The Lies We Tell Ourselves
by shadow walker 999
Summary: Tara is apart of the next generation. As the daughter of Harry Potter she struggles with living up to his reputation and dealing with her own views about the world. As she attends her first year at Hogwarts a mystery begins to unfold and Tara finds herself desperate to uncover the truth about her birth mother, and along the way discovers the world isn't black and white.
1. Chapter 1

**Epilouge**

As I sat on the dark black leather lounge in the dimly lit room shadows encasing the walls, I looked down at my daughter, she was only 10 months old I cradled her in my arms as she slept, I wanted her safe and here she wasn't safe, not with Jade around. I gently lay the small child on the lounge her dark black hair blending with the shade of the cushions. I silently stood up and looked out the window, it was open, the breeze slowly drifting in, I glanced back at Tara. She shivered as she felt the wind blow past her, I walked to the cupboard and grabbed a thin blanket and draped it over her young frame. The clock chimed the hour, I looked towards the Grandfather clock that stood against the wall beside the open window it showed 12:00 AM, it was time to leave I slowly picked Tara up and held her to my chest, with my free hand I grabbed our suitcase and headed towards the door.

As I walked through the dark dimly lit halls I, thought of Jade, she wasn't due home for another two hours, at another meeting. How had she drifted so far, once she had been a kind woman but now she was a cold-hearted Death eater, she belonged to the cause, the pureblood cause. Stop wallowing we need to get out of here I said to myself, I almost stumbled as the lush white carpet that covered the hall floors turned into dark timber flooring, for the sake of my daughter I quickly regained my footing. Even though I sneaked through the halls, there wasn't any immediate need, very few people came during the night especially at these late hours although it never hurts to be cautious.

We neared the dark wooden door, it had intricate carvings of runes along the frame all in bright shimmering gold. I was glad that Jade had people care for the house, the door opened without so much as a creak, as I stare towards the night I allow myself one last look at my old house as I vanish into the night. As soon as I believed we weren't in any harm I checked Tara, she still slept her face snuggled into my shoulder, breathing at a steady pace. I pulled out the port key and said "Hogwarts".

We appeared at the gates, I huddled Tara closer to me as the rain dripped down my face, my boots pressing into the mud, I pulled down my hood and entered the ancient building eager to be away from the harsh weather. As I passed the halls that had been my schooling years I saw a familiar face. The tell tale red hair of a Weasley, the youngest one at that,

"hey" I said, softly not wanting to wake Tara up, Ginny flashed around, she looked a bit tired she had bags forming under her eyes, "Harry" she said with an eager voice, she glanced down towards the almost miss able bundle I held in my arms, She reached towards Tara, she looked up to me silently asking permission to touch my daughter, I gave her a quick nod and she shot me a smile. I had missed Ginny she had once been a key person in my life before we had the fallout over many insignificant things, it has caused our relationship to shatter, much like glass being smashed with a rock. Looking towards her now I knew we could get past it, I was already falling for her again, her bright red hair down to her hips, her slender waist , tall yet fragile looking, as if one touch would make her disintegrate. Her eyes shinning, reflecting the lights around the room, a smile graced her lips as I heard movement down the hall.

Ginny quickly moved her hand back and raced down the hall, something gave me the impression that she wasn't supposed to be present for our current situation. I shot her a glance and then walked towards the three figures that loomed at the door. I looked at them, they had changed since our last interaction, the faces of the three men looked weary and old, as I examined them, they seemed entranced as they continued to stare at Tara. She squirmed in my hold, her body wriggling against my chest, her small hands clutched my cloak. One of the three gestured to the door and I joined them in the old room, dust coated the desks and the room's shadows hid in the corners as the fire blazed, letting warmth touch my body, It tingled as the wet damp clothes began to dry.

I gently set Tara down on the lounge, I quickly cast a warming charm and turned to the other occupants in the room. "It's been a long time kiddo" the man with dark black hair and a slight stubble on his skin exclaimed, "Indeed it has Sirius" I replied as I embraced him in a hug, "you seem tired" The man with dull orange faded hair said, I turned to Remus and he offered me his hand, I shook it a grin overcame my face as our eyes met. "not tired, just worried, when she finds out she'll flip" I said my expression changing to a worry some one, "She'll have to find you first" The third man in the room interjected, as I looked at him I could make out his features in the shadows, his orange shaggy hair, his small build, but mostly his magical eye. Moody gave me a nod, "what Jade wants Jade gets" I replied knowing it was true, If Jade were to come looking she would most definitely find us, most likely kill me in the process, these thoughts worried me as I shot a glance towards my daughter, I quickly shook those thoughts from my mind and remember why I was doing this. "Harry if what you say is true, if she truly wishes the best for her child she'll know Tara will be better of without her" Sirius said trying to put my worries to rest. I hoped what he said was true because an angry Jade is like running with one leg, your eyes closed and being in a grassland being chased by a Lion, she was dangerous.

"I hope she sees it that way" I replied, the three men gave a nod as to say they do to. The three, began conversing about what was the best possible way to hide Tara and I. As I normally would at this time, I look up at the stars, they shine brightly against the black sky, bringing light to the scenery, this reminded me of the patronus charm, how it fought away the evil dementors and stopped them from devouring my soul. I heard a yawn I looked at my daughter, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she sat up, "daddy" she said looking around the room. I grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes, and stroked her dark hair that stuck out against the red couch, "go back to sleep dear, it's ok" I said soothingly as she closed her eyes and drifted of to the world of dreams, I spared her one last look and began to join my company's conversation. "what about staying here" Remus supplied, "argh to much risk towards the students" Moody replied, "how about Grimmauld place, it is situated in a muggle community" Sirius said, his hand swept over his face as he pushed his hair out of his eyes, "to many possible casualties, she'd rip through them" I said, they sighed, although my words were true Jade would kill any one she wanted to she didn't care for begging or loyalty, if she wanted someone dead they were dead. "what about ah fidelus charm boy" Mad eye said in his gruff voice.

There was a possibility it could work but I didn't want people at risk in my current situation, I didn't want more people to die in my name, enough had perished in the war with Voldemort already. "no, I don't want anyone else involved it's to dangerous" I voiced sternly, "Harry don't be absurd if Jade finds you she'll shred you to pieces" Sirius said worryingly, "I'm well aware of that" I replied as I emotionlessly, "Remus just stared at me, he shook his head "Sirius, Harry's right we don't need anything big". I was glad Remus was here, he could persuade Sirius to not do something idiotic, he looked at me frustrated like he was going to say something but Remus sent him a glare and he sat down. "I can stay with the Weasleys surely they wouldn't mind" I exclaimed, I was getting tired, I wanted this soughted out sooner rather than later, "well Arthur and Molly live in Europe now, Hermione, Ron, there two sons and Fred and George reside at the Burrow now" A puzzled expression graced my features, so where did Ginny live, "what about Ginny" I asked trying to mask the eagerness from my voice, you learn a few tricks living with the Dark Lady. "Ah yes miss Ginerva Weasley lives on her own in a house not to far from here, a nice house secluded from the public but only 15 minutes from town" Remus supplied, Ginny was still single, "I could stay with her, we could put some wards around the property, I'm sure she wouldn't mind, it's the best option so far", the three looked at me wearily and then Sirius sighed. "you can go in the morning" he said with defeat, "shouldn't we owl her first" I said slightly confused, "Ginerva has already offered the use of her home, she is still in the building actually, she never left" Remus said as he showed me the Marauders map.

The three men left the room, as I was about to begin my search for the youngest Weasley she walked through the door, "Hey" she said with a smile, "long time no see" I replied, my gut filled with butterflies and it felt like 5th year again, "seems like you've been up to lots" she said with a inquisitive grin, I for what seemed like the 100th time tonight glanced at Tara, "how old is she" Ginny asked, "ten months", In four days. "She looks just like you, um but what of her mother" she prodded awkwardly, I didn't want to lie to her but she'd chuck a fit if she found out, "she passed away" I said with a fake sadness plastered on my face, "your welcome to stay with me you know, it's just me", I was grateful for Ginny selfishly I was glad she hadn't moved on. "you wouldn't mind" I said sheepishly, "not at all, but it might be a bit awkward because I still have feelings towards you" she blushed, "It's ok, I do to, maybe we could, um, try again, I, uh, I" I stuttered as I muddled up words, "yes" the red head replied happily, "but what about Tara, I can't have her grow up without a mother Ginn, not like I did" I said dampening the mood, what she said next surprised me, "well I'll be her mum" she said determined, I could already see that Tara was indeed growing on her. "are you sure" I voiced, "yes, we don't need people picking on her or causing trouble about her real mother, we can say we kept it private" she smiled, a grin plastered my face, "Ginny your amazing", "I know" was the reply.

"what do you think your brothers will say" I said with a mischievous grin, "Ron might try to kill you but other than that, you should be good" she laughed, "Ron kill me, in his dreams" I replied glee coating my words, "Yes well that boy did always like to sleep" the read head joked. After we conversed about what we had been doing over the past four years, me obviously lying through my teeth, thank merlin she didn't notice, we sat down on the red couch, Tara in my arms and Ginny asleep on my shoulder, I slowly drifted of with the sounds of Tara and Ginny breathing steadily against me.

...

Plz Review if you think it's any good, Shadow.


	2. Chapter 2

I stifled a yawn and groaned as Dad walked through the hall yelling, "Time to get up".

Usually I would have went back to sleep but I remembered that we have to go shopping for my school supplies. Using a basic charm I opened my blue curtains, the sun light leaked through the window onto my face, I squinted as I got up and headed towards the bathroom.

I almost tripped due to one of Orion's toys, he was so immature sometimes, I was only 3yrs older than him, I continued my journey to the lavatory, as I past the kitchen the aroma of slightly burnt Bacon, Sausages and fried eggs wafted to my nose, this made me eager to get presentable quickly so I could feast on the food.

I had a shower and hurriedly attempted to straighten the uncontrollable black waves that unfortunately was my hair, with no such luck I tied it into a pony-tail and slipped on my blue and silver cloak, with a final quick glance to the mirror I immediately ran into the kitchen almost tumbling into Mum.

"Hey honey" she said as she sipped her coffee, her red hair always was straight, I had no idea how she managed it, my hair was almost untameable.

"Hi" I replied as my Father plonked a plate in front of me, with a quick 'thank you' I devoured the delicious breakfast and gulped down a glass of orange juice.

Orion finally came down the stairs and greeted us, his black hair messy and currently still in his pyjamas, after he ate his meal Dad made him get changed into something suitable for our trip to Diagon Ally.

Mum looked towards her wrist and with a quick shriek the red head bid us a farewell and raced to the floo to get to work, Dad called out.

"Be ready in five".

I gracefully dashed to my room and scooped up my sapphire pendant that I seemed to have as long as I could remember and adjusted it on my neck. I raced downstairs excitedly, although my mood was dampened when Father began reciting the outing rules, I mimicked him in my head,

1\. No being silly,  
2\. Avoid reporters,  
3\. Don't wander off,  
4\. Don't say who you are,  
5\. Stay away from people in dark cloaks.

Dad's rules were no fun, "Ok lets go", he voiced, we walked through the floo and appeared in Diagon Ally.

I looked down the street, it was full of other witch and wizards, almost instantly Orion began half nagging, half pleading to let us go to the book shop, Dad finally caved and we began browsing at the books, I picked 6 books, 4 necessary for my first year at Hogwarts and the remainder for self study, as I looked to my brother he had around 20 books, I had no idea how he was going to fit any more books onto his already packed bookshelf in his room, he could possibly put them in the library but Dad never lets us go in there on our own.

As we hurried through the crowds I examined the stores, most held some kind of magical item, that being said Daddy pulled to some of the run down buildings we had previously passed, the inside was well furnishedus into a store with a sign saying, 'brooms galore', it looked quite modern compared , brooms were held on stands around the store along with various quiditch supplies. I looked around the room and something golden caught my eye, it took me a few seconds to realise what it was, a _Snitch_.

I loved Quiditch, and it was no suprise that I was a fairly good seeker, taking after my parents Uncle Ron always said. I thought back to last week when we were playing Quiditch in the backyard, how I had almost got Snitch, to have Dad catch it when I was mere centimetres away. I had been a grouch all week after that,  
Dad had said "better luck next time" as he had walked inside, Mum had scolded him about how childish he was.

Something shook me out of my thoughts, I looked to find Orion waving his hand back and forth infront of my face, I blinked myself back to reality, 

"Hello Earth to Tara, anyone home" he voiced childishly,  
"hmm, what" I mumbled as I shook the memory from my head,  
"It's time to go" he said, "we've got to get to the cloak shop and then were suppossed to meet Uncle Sirius" 

I nodded as he dragged me out to the front of the store, towards Father, I felt quite dazed, I looked out at the sky it was blue, the sun was shinning so bright like it was trying to blind you.

We passed through the streets, and finally reached our destination 'Cloaks R Us' the flashing sign read, I thought it was funny how Muggle customs were widely supported now, Wizards celebrated all their Holidays and had began embracing technology.

As we entered the store I looked towards the counter, as I glanced towards the shop owner I noticed he was conversing with a man a shiver went down my spine as the man was wearing a 'dark' cloak, my thoughts flashed to Fathers 5th rule. The figure in the dark cloak turned towards me, as if he knew I was watching, I quickly switched my attention to some bright green cloaks, I looked towards the counter again to observe the man but he had vanished.

I walked towards Orion and Dad, trying to forget about what I had saw, I spotted a lovely crimson cloak on a rack across the room, the memory about the man drifted to the back of my thoughts as I joined in conversation with my brother. Dad went to the counter and paid for the cloaks, I walked out the shop and waited out the front, the disgusting smell of Pizza wafted to my nose, I had always hated Pizza, I hated everything about it, the smell, the taste, even the texture.

The smell disapeared as a heavy rain began to fall, it was a darastic change as only 40 minutes ago had the sun been shinning. As Dad and my brother exited the store we quickly walked towards 'Black's Cafe' for shelter, as we entered we were greeted by Uncle Sirius, Dad enloped him in a hug. We sat down and they immediately engaged in conversation about the minister of magic, Neville Longbottom, he was currently the minister, I had met his son a few times and his wife someone Greengrass I thought as I struggled to remember her first name.

After about half an hour later of boredom the conversation changed to something more interesting by far, the DE (death eaters) and the DL (dark lady) had been killing more muggles by the day, Auror activity had been increased and since Uncle Ron was an Auror he had been really busy, Aunt Mione and her kids had even been over more recently due to the lack of Ron.

I listened quietly as the conversation went on, I thought I wasn't going to even get a chance to talk with Sirius when he asked,

"What do you think about the DE" Sirius said with a wink, he'd obviously noticed how bored I had been,  
"Well I think that the way they go about it is wrong they don't have to kill Muggles, that won't give them any Wizarding support, they need a better approach towards the situation, the idea that Muggles are a danger to us is true, but they need a better way, I'm not saying they're good or anything but I get why they're doing all the killing" I said the last part quickly, I didn't want them thinking I was pro DE or anything.

"Interesting, interesting, what about you Orion" Uncle said.

I tuned out again and before I knew it Orion was calling my name,  
"bye Uncle Sirius" me and Orion said.

"what's with you today" Orion whispered to me as we walked two steps behind Father, "what do you mean" I replied,  
"you keep day dreaming or something" I gave him a confused face, although deep down I knew he was right, I had been tuning things out, there was no need to worry him, well my whole family knew about my nightmare, it had started when I was two yrs old. My parents had no idea that I was still having the dream, when I was 7 dad had began giving me sleeping draughts and that had helped, well for a while, then the dream had began again and I didn't tell anyone, it was for the best ... wasn't it, yes it was. I sighed as I thought about the dilema at hand,

"Your doing it again Tara", my brother replied as he rolled his eyes, I hated when Orion was like this, yes he was smart, really smart, ok fine like genius smart, well it was what the IQ test had said '174 points'. I got really annoyed how he used that serious tone with me, he always acted like an adult, even if he was immature. My brother was one of those people who acted all smart ass like, I have no idea where he even got those smarts from, mum and dad weren't that, that smart.

"Tara are you coming" Orion said impatiently,  
"what" I said oh Merlin, I did it again,  
"we're going to 'Ollivanders' for your wand, seriously Tara".

I ran to catch up, when we stopped in front of an old building I almost fainted standing there out the front was Mum, what the hell,

"what are you doing here mum" I said, far more loud than I had wanted to,  
"can't your mother be here when you get your wand" she said with a giggle,  
"yeah but what about work" I replied, confused,  
"oh, I'm on leave" Mum replied,  
"since when", what in the name of Merlin was going on, Mum was a work fanatic, no way would she get leave. Mother was the magical artiffacts head of research at the ministry, she barely ever missed a day at work, it feels so out of place somethings going on I concluded.

"what does it matter to you Tara, now chop chop I want to see what kind of wand you get" she replied motherly.

We entered the shop and the first thing I noticed was the boxes, rows and rows of boxes, all dark and rectangular. At first I thought no one was even there but suddenly a man popped out from behind the counter.

"Ah you must be Tara Potter, couldn't forget your parents wands both quite unusuall" The man I now assumed to be Ollivander. 

"Long time no see" Father said as he shook the elderly, bearded, ruggish looking mans hand. 

"Right well lets get to it", he pulled a dark brown box of the nearest shelf and handed it to her Dad. Harry passed it to her and she opened the lid, the wand was light brown and very short. 

"6 inches ", Ollivander smiled. 

I grasped the wand and waved it around a few times and frowned. 

"Obviously not that one", Orion laughed, I shot him a glare.  
"Here", the old man passed her another box, "try this one". 

I gave it a flick and a few boxes flew of the shelf. I hurriedly passed it back to him. As he passed me a third box I bit my lip. 

"8 inches Cherry wood with an Asp's venom core", he smiled.  
'Please work', I repeated in my head. 

As soon as my fingers curled around the wand I knew it wasn't for me, another few boxes plumeted to the old worn floor. 

"Yeah I don't think this is the one either", I frowned. 

I passed him back the wand and couldn't help but sigh, I ran my hand through my hair. Ollivander plucked 4 more boxes of the old wooden shelves and placed them on the counter. I tried each one and to no avail. 

"We've tried seven wands Dad", I grumbled at Dad,  
"You'll find one", he reassured her.

"I think we need a different approach", the wand maker said as he beckoned them towards the shelves, "Tell me when you feel something", Ollivander smiled.

They walked through the shelves and I was getting frustrated. 'Feel something, feel what', I though angrily. We reached the last row of shelves and I still hadn't felt a thing. Mum and Dad shared a worrying look, Ollivander seemed to be watching me closely and Orion was walking up and down every isle.

I ran my fingers over the back wall of the shop. My fingers began tingling and the feeling began flowing from my finger tips to my hand.  
"What's over here", I asked Ollivander. The shopkeeper shot over faster than I thought he'd be able to, Mum, Dad and Orion trailing quickly behind. 

"Uh", the old man dragged out, "I thought so".

It seemed as if the old man was rambling to himself. He swiped his wand over the wall. Slowly the wall shook and melted away.

"What's in here". I asked. Who hid normal things behind magic walls, no one.

"A special creation of mine". He answered.

He grabbed a box off a stool and wiped the dust off it. He passed the black wand to me. It look stunning, it was black and has silver and red snakes wrapping itself around it. As soon as I held it I knew it was the one.

"Well, give it a wave", Mum said.

Silver light shone out the end and I smiled.

"Definetly it", Ollivander grinned.

We followed him over to the front counter. Dad passed him a few Galleons.

"A Dark wood wand dipped in Thestral blood with a Bassilisk venom core. Very good overall for all kinds of magic, especially the Dark Arts and Dueling", he explained.

Mum scowled slightly when he mentioned the Dark Arts, I just ignored her and stared at my wand as we walked out of the shop.

We got home a few minutes later, I wiped the soot of my cloak and sat in the loungeroom and admired my wand.

"You know you can't use your wand until you get to Hogwarts right", her Mum raised her eyebrows in question.

"I know", I sighed.

"Not necessarily Gin, they don't put a tracer on until you get to Hogwarts. So technically she could get a bit of a head start, Nev's letting Edward do it", Harry grinned.

I smiled at Dad.

"Harry", Mum scolded.

I went into my room and plonked down on the bed. I grabbed the book of spells that I got from Uncle Sirius last Yule. I opened the brown cover and skimmed through the pages until I found what I was looking for.

The 'Alohamora' spell.

I'd seen Mum and Dad do this a million times, it couldn't be that hard. I locked my door and got my wand ready. I double checked the wand movements and took a deep breath.

"Alohamora", I said loudly.

I heard a click and crossed my fingers. I reached towards my door and twisted the metal handle, it opened. I had done it.

I locked the door again and did the spell, I did this a few more times and grinned. I had mastered the spell on my first go. Awesome. I flicked through the spell book a tested out heaps of them. Some of them worked and some of them ... well some of them didn't. I thought as I looked at a pile of slime and a pile of dirt on the floor.

I used the vanishing spell and smiled. I had learnt so much in the last hour.

I thought about school. It was going to be awesome. Dad and Mum had told me heaps of stories about what they had gotten up to, from finding the chamber of secrets to using time turners.

Annoyingly I didn't really know anyone. Well I knew the Weasley twins and Edward Longbottom but Edward was a jerk and the twins were in their own little world.

There was a knock on the door and I turned to see Orion.

"Hey Orion", I smiled and gestured for him to sit down.

"Hi, um I was wondering do you consider me your brother", he asked.

I gave him a confused look.

"Of course I do. What's brought this on?", I asked curiously.

"Well today I was talking with Mum and she reminded me that you and her are completely different, that's because we're half siblings. I was just ... I wondered ... I wanted to ...", He couldn't find the right words.

To me Ginny was my Mum. We didn't speak about my biological Mum, she had died when I was born. Ginny had raised me, changed my nappies, fed me bottles. She was in every way my Mum.

"Orion we might be half siblings or something but that doesn't make you any less my brother. I'll kick anyone's ass that tells you otherwise", I smiled, he still didn't look convinced.

"Hey Orion who else can talk in their own language, if that doesn't make us siblings I don't know what does", I hissed in Parseltounge.

He grinned.

"Yeah, your right", he hissed back, "Do you want to show me that wand of your's?".

"Sure", I hissed back.

I ended up spending the next couple of hours just hanging out with Orion like we used to when we were younger.


	3. Chapter 3

I felt really nervous, I couldn't help but fidget with my pendant. I was going to Hogwarts. Mum and Dad had reassured me that I was going to be fine. How did they know, the train could crash, my broom could break, I could fall to my death, I could be eaten by a Hippogriff.

I sighed as we walked into King's Cross Station. The area was full of Muggles walking left right and centre. Two trains were waiting on the tracks. Dad led us towards a brick column. He gestured towards it and I gave him a look.

It was a wall, a brick wall. Was he joking.

"Tara just walk through the wall", Dad said.

I shot him another sceptically look.

"I'm serious", he stuck his hand through the wall.

I was slighlty shocked. I'd never seen this kind of magic. I walked over and shut my eyes as I walked through the magical barrier. I was stunned when I opened my eyes. This was platform 3 and 3/4. The platform was amazing, it felt so magical. The station was spotless, the walls were brick and a black and red train was waiting on the tracks.

I moved away from the barrier so I didn't run into anyone. Consequently I stumbled right into another girl.

"Uh sorry", she said nervously.

"No it's ok it was my fault", I said.

I stuck my hand out,

"Tara Potter", I smiled politely, I really didn't want to screw up already.

"Jasmine Malfoy", she smiled back.

As soon as she said that I recognised who she was related to. She had the Blonde hair and natural beauty of a Malfoy. I was suprised that she wasn't cursing me or anything. I decided to stop thinking like a prejudiced moron and smiled.

"First year?", I questioned,

"Yeah. You?",

"Same", I answered.

"Cool. I guess I'll see you at Hogwarts", Jasmine said and walked towards a blonde haired man and an orange haired woman. I assumed they were her parents.

I turned around and smiled as Mum, Dad and Orion finally came through the barrier. We walked closer to the train and I felt butterflies fill my stomach.

"Oh hi Harry, Ginny", a voice called out.

I turned around and saw Uncle Ron with Arnold and Arthur.

"Hey Ron, where's Hermione", Mum asked.

I felt like calling her stupid, Aunt Mione was the Headmistress of Hogwarts, she'd be there already.

"She's already at Hogwarts", Ron answered.

The three adults started chatting and that left Orion, Arthur, Arnold and I to stand in an awkward silence.

"Uh hey", I said trying to make conversation.

"Hi", Arthur said and nudged Arnold to get him to reply. Arnold remained silent.

"So are you excited for Hogwarts?", I asked.

Arnold gave her a glare, "Of course not, we've been there heaps of times, our Mum does work there".

"Ok then. What house do you think you'll get in?". Orion asked sourly, he didn't take kindly to the looks he was getting from Arnold.

"Gryffindor obviously", Arnold replied,

"I'm not sure, Gryffindor or Ravenclaw maybe?", Arthur answered unsure.

Arnold gave him a filthy look and walked over to Edward Longbottom and a girl with dyed hair.

"Sorry about Arnold", Arthur said appoligetically.

"Yeah he's an absolute idiot", Orion ground out, I shoved him.

"Yeah, he thinks I'm going to hold him back from being great or something", Arthur sighed.

I felt bad for Arthur. Arthur and Arnold had always be so close, stuck in their own little world. Annold had always been a bit antagonistic and annoying but he'd always been close with Arthur.

"I'm sure he's just feeling nervous, we all are, we are going to be at Hogwarts until we're adults", I supplied, trying to make Arthur feel better.

"Yeah, your probably right, Arnold does get nervous easily", he answered half heartedly, he obviously wasn't convinced.

I looked over at all the other kids standing in their little groups. Sometimes I just wished that Mum and Dad hadn't kept me secluded all my life. While I'd been home schooled Orion had attended a public school; While Orion had made friends, I'd been all alone. Most of the other first years already knew other kids, whether it was because their parents wanted them to make good connections for their house or they just let their kids have friends.

"Tara, earth to Tara".

I shook my head and gave Orion a smile. I must have blanked out again.

I followed Mum, Dad and Uncle Ron to the train entrance as it was time to board. Students started getting on and I turned to Mum and Dad. I all of a sudden felt my stomach flip, I didn't want to leave Mum, Dad and Orion.

"It's ok Tara, we'll see you at Yule break", Dad smiled,

"And we'll Owl eachother all the time", Mum added. She gave me a hug.

I took a deep breath, gave my family one last look and grabbed my luggage, I boarded the train and was just about to sit in an empty compartment when I saw Jasmine Malfoy.

"Hi, do you mind if I sit with you?", I asked slightly nervous, I didn't want to make a bad impression or anything.

"Yeah sure", she said shyly.

I put my luggage on the roof rack and sat on the red leather seat across from her. I couldn't help but stare, Jasmine had pale clear skin, impecable, straight, blonde hair and sparkling bright blue eyes, to put it simply was beautiful, she could definetly be a model, it made me hate my uncontrollable black hair and lightly freckled skin.

"Are you alright", Jasmine said concerned,

"Uh sorry, I couldn't help but stare, your really pretty", I answered.

She blushed at my comment and gave a smile.

"Thanks".

"So you must be excited for Hogwarts, you're already in your first year robes", I pointed out.

"Yeah I didn't want to chance losing them or getting in trouble or anything", Jasmine said as she pulled out a book from her backpack. I couldn't help but jump over next to her and stare at the book wide-eyed.

"That's the Beetle and the Bard", I exclaimed. It had been my favourite book since forever.

She smiled at my antics.

"It's my favourite book", the blonde supplied,

"Same", I grinned.

We spent the next hour talking about our favourite aspects of the book. The only interruption had been the lolly trolley, at which I had bought a few 'chocolate frog cards' and some 'Berty Bots all flavoured Jelly Beans'; Jasmine had just declined and I had practically guilted her into eating one of my chocolate frogs. We'd ended up giggling when she dropped it and it jumped out the window.

"Tara you better get changed into your robes", Jasmine urged,

"I'll be fine, we've got hours until we get to Hogarts", I assurred her.

I was about to ask her about her parents when we both turned our heads as we heard a commotion down the corridor.

"We better go see what's going on".

Jasmine followed me nervously.

I glared as I saw Edward Longbottom, Arnold and a girl with dyed hair taunting another first year.

"Come on we should go help her", I said to Jasmine, "No one else is going to", I pointed out, heaps of other students were standing aside laughing.

"Shouldn't we get a prefect or a head girl or boy", Jasmine said, I'd discovered in the past hour that Jasmine was a straight A student, Rule following kind of girl.

"There are already prefects over there", I pointed to three students with prefect badges.

"Fine", she said and followed me wand in hand. I was slightly suprised that she was so ready for conflict, I didn't ask whether she knew any spells or not. This was Jasmine Malfoy, she definetly was prepared.

Edward pushed the girl and laughed at her.

"Shove off Edward", I glared and helped the girl up.

"The stupid Muggleborn doesn't know who the Minister of magic is Tara, she's obviously a stupid weakling", Edward scowled.

"Stop being a git", I growled.

"And who might you be?", the girl with dyed hair demanded.

"Tara Potter", I answered.

I heard a few collective gasps at that, I had a few ideas why.

Her demeanor immediately changed.

"Surely heir Potter you understand that this Mudblood is worthless, there is no point arguing with Edward over such a trivial thing. You wouldn't want to disgrace your house", she said maliciously, trying to sound technical.

I suddenly felt sick, I didn't want to start some conflict between my family and who ever her's was. Luckily Jasmine saved the day.

"I'm sorry Tiffany, I was unaware that you wanted to marry your cousin Edward, afterall you surely are around him almost every hour of the day, one would think you have feelings for him, your mother is his aunt. Then again I suppose you wouldn't want to dissapoint the House of Greengrass. Surely you understand that Malfoy, nor Potter House would want to associate themselves with undesirables like yourself and surely you parents would be dissapointed that you have surely destroyed the possible relationships between several Houses with you insult of House Potter, a truly powerful house that has the endless respect of the whole wizarding world", Jasmine smiled innocently. She'd absoloutely crushed any argument from Tiffany or Edward.

The Malfoy heir grabbed my arm and the Muggleborn's arm and deagged us back to our compartment.

"Oh Merlin Jasmine that was just awesome, I had no idea you could insult someone like that. I thought we were going down with that girl's insult but you just came in and crushed her", I said shocked as I sat down.

"Uh yeah that pretty cool", the Muggleborn girl said.

"I guess it was", Jasmine admitted.

"Um I'm Tara", I introduced myself to the girl, as did Jasmine.

"I'm Myley, Myley Summers", she smiled.

Myley, just like Jasmine, had that natural beauty to her. Her long curly light brown hair was pushed to one side, she had a sparkly white wollen beany on and white gloves. Myley wore typical blue jeans like me and a thick white wollen jacket with a black shirt.

"Does she always do that?", Myley asked Jasmine.

"Yeah", Jasmine answered.

"Uh sorry", I said feelin a bit embaressed.

Myley just giggled.

"So what house do you guys think you'll get into?", Myley asked,

"Ravenclaw maybe, possibly Slytherin like my parents", Jasmine answered,

"I'm not sure, both of my parents were in Gryffindor though. What about you".

"Maybe Gryffindor or Hufflepuff", Myley answered.

Myley gave me a confused look when I offered her a chocolate frog. Jasmine had spent the next few minutes explaining after I had attempted to explain and had said it was a magic frog.

"Uh thanks for helping me out back there, I thought prefects would help me out when I asked about the British Ministry of Magic. Edward and his friends must have heard me because they started teasing me", she said thankfully.

"That's cool, we like to help people out, don't we Jasmine", I nudged Jasmine as she had opened a book and seemed stuck into.

"Uh yeah", Jasmine answered.

"I heard that people prank people magically at Hogwarts", I supplied, wondering if either of my new friends were remotely interested in pranks. Uncle Sirius, Uncle Fred and Uncle George had definetly rubbed off on me.

Myley's face immedieatly lit up.

"Pranks are my thing. At home I prank my sister when she's not at work. Last week I filled her ice-cream with butter. She didn't even look and when she had her first bite she stated screaming that I'd given her thousands of calories", Myley grinned.

"Well technically the ice-cream would have given her the calories anyway", I said.

"If you two prank other students or teachers you'll get us in trouble, you'll make your house lose points", Jasmine exclaimed.

"Calm down goody two shoes, we wont get caught".

Jasmine pushed me playfully at the use of her new nickname.

I finally grabbed my school school robes as did Myley, to stop Jasmine worrying. We skillfully changed as we took our jumpers off and put our robes over and then took off our jeans and shirts.

We'd both eplained to Jasmine that she wouldn't see us naked but she'd insisted that she should close her eyes incase.

"So have you guys studied any of the material for this year", Jasmine asked,

"Maybe", Myley said sheepishly. We'd both established that Jasmine was very serious about school.

"A bit", I answered.

"You two don't want to fail school do you", Jasmine said shocked.

"We'll be fine, we have you", I grinned and giggled as she pushed me again.

"I didn't say anything". Myley put her hands up defensively.

Jasmine ended up reading the syllabus to us. I ended up saying I had to go to the bathroom, unsuprisingly Myley had to five minutes later. I must have eventually fallen asleep because I woke up covered with Myley's white jumper and shirt.

I felt someone push my shoulder and I looked up to see Myley.

"Come on sleepy head", she laughed.

I sat up, blinked my eyes a few times and took a deep breath.

"How long until we get to Hogwarts?", I asked with a yawn.

Jasmine went to answer but the train halted to a stop.

"I guess we're here", I shrugged.

A prefect opened our door and announced that we were to leave our luggage on the train. Myley had asked why and they had answered that it would be collected by the school.

Jasmine, Myley and I got off the train.

"Split up. First years follow me. The rest of ya go to the carriages", A man in a rugged coat yelled out.

In the dim light I could see Myley scowled as she stumbled around in the dark trying not to fall onto anyone. We ended up linking arms and helping eachother not trip over ourselves or anyone else.

After a 5 minute walk we got to a fairly well lighted area. It was a lake and rows of boats tied up to docks. I couldn't help but be entranced at the castle. It was stunning.

Myley pulled me along and we got into a boat along with Arthur and Jasmine.

"So Muggles can actually get into a boat", Edward taunted.

"Ah Edward a snake", Myley shouted at him.

Edward frantically looked for the Snake and began rocking the boat. His companions shouted at him to stop but he obviously was to concerned about himself. Edward tipped the boat and began screaming as he and the others fell out.

Myley giggled, she definetly was going to be the life of the party.

Edward and his friends got back into their boat, drenched in water.

Myley giggled again and I couldn't help but laugh, Jasmine just covered her face with her hands obviously embarressed by us.

"Lighten up Jasmine", Myley grinned madly.

After a few minutes we were ushered off the boats and into the castle.

Once the double doors were opened the blinding light of the entrance made me close my eyes. We were taken to a corridor infront of a set of doors. A woman came and stood infront of us.

"Welcome first years. You are about to be sorted into your houses. I'm going to give you guys a few minutes to smarten up and get prepared". The woman slightly freaked me out, she had strange, pink glasses and a cork bottle necklace.

She walked down the hall off to who know's where.

"I heard we'll have to fight Dragons", Arnold said.

I couldn't help but grin to myself, Arnold definetly knew how first years were soughted, his Mum had told us heaps of times.

"Or fight Giants", Edward said.

I heard the echoes of footsteps. I turned to see the freaky woman come towards us.

"Alright everyone two lines please", she asked.

I took a deep breath as the doors to the hall opened and we walked into the massive room. Four tables, most likely the house tables, were covered in cloth and empty plates. The roof of the hall looked like the night sky. It was all so amazing and magical.

The freaky Lady began explaining that we would be soughted by a magical hat.

"Katherine Bell", was the first name announced. The dark brown haired girl confidently walked up and sat on an old worn looking stool. "Hufflepuff", the hat bellowed.

Next called was Elizabeth Bones. The girl seemed nervous and had to be called up twice, she was placed in Gryffindor.

Keith Boot sat up on the stool and was shortly after placed in Ravenclaw.

"Seth Brown", the freaky woman called out. At that thought I felt like I should find a better name for her, something not judgemental. Seth was placed in Hufflepuff.

Cedric Chang was called up. The boy had shoulder length jet black hair and black glasses. I couldn't help but think he was a jerk. I usually hated judging people without knowing them but he kept looking at Jasmine oddly so I felt it was justified.

"Ravenclaw", the hat announced.

"Kim Chang".  
"Gryffindor".

It only took me a few seconds to realise that Kim and Cedric were related, they had the same brown eyes and silky black hair.

Amy Creevey was next and after a few minutes was placed in Slytherin. This reminded me about the Slytherin and Gryffindor grudge, what if Jasmine or Myley got put in Slytherin or Gryffindor, would that mean we wouldn't continue to be friends.

"Alex Finnigan".  
He definetly looked nervous when the woman placed the magic hat on his head.  
"Hufflepuff", the hat screeched.

Tiffany Greengrass was announced and she smugly sat on the stool. I couldn't help but glare at her.

"Gryffindor".

Tiffany gave me a smirk as she walked past and went and sat with her house.

"Tyler Nott", The blonde haired boy gave a smirk and sat on the stool.  
"Gryffindor".

Edward Longbottom was next and was placed in Gryffindor.

James Macmillan was placed in Hufflepuff after a few seconds.

"Jasmine Malfoy", the woman smiled.  
I whispered to Jasmine good luck and just hoped she wasn't placed in Gryffindor.  
"Slytherin", the hat announced.

As Jasmine walked to the Slytherin table I could tell she felt shocked, I was a bit to. Jasmine was a nice, smart girl. Not that nice people couldn't be in Slytherin, just that I thought people with intelligence like her's would have been placed in Ravenclaw.

Jason Patil was next and was soughted into Ravenclaw.

"Tara Potter",  
I felt frozen as she called my name, the hall had went silent. I blamed this on my Dad's legendary legacy of Killing the Dark Lord and all of his crazy adventures.

I sat on the stool and fixed my eyes above everyone's head. Suddenly I heard a voice in my mind.  
"Hello Tara. My, my, you are the daughter of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. Ah no I see I'm incorrect, Ginny Weasley is your adoptive mother, so who is your real mother?", The hat babbled.

"Uh aren't you supposed to be soughting me", I thought, feeling slightly annoyed. This stupid hat didn't need to be so nosy.

Actually I do", It said, "So your real Mother is dead ay, or is she", the hat continued.

Suddenly my vision switched and I felt like I was in a dream. I heard yelling.  
"Harry I have to, they look up to me, I'm their leader", a womanly voice argued.  
"Jade what about Tara, she's your daughter", a man that sounded like my Dad yelled angrily.  
"What are you going to do Harry, leave?", she scoffed.

My vision swirled again and I took a deep breath. What the hell was that. What had just happened.

"That was just an early repressed memory Tara. So your Mother was called Jade, interesting", the hat sighed.

"Can you please just sort me", I thought angrily.

"Of course, how about", the hat paused for a few seconds, "Slytherin", It finished.

I took a deep breath and made my way over to the Slytherin table, I sat next to Jasmine and turned to watch the rest of the first years getting sorted. A heap of people had been soughted by the time I finally stopped thinkng about the memory.

Adam Richards was soughted next. I couldn't keep my eyes off him. Just like Jasmine and Myley he had that natural beauty to him.  
"Gryffindor", the hat yelled.

"Myley Simmons". I locked eyes with Myley as she sat on the stool. Her face sunk when she was placed in Gryffindor, I could tell even Jasmine was to happy about it either. I shot Myley a smile.

Terrance Spinnet, a really tall girl, was placed in Hufflepuff.

"Jessica Thomas", the orange haired girl walked up to the stool and was placed in Ravenclaw  
Arnold Weasley was called up next. Arnold looked at Edward at the Gryffindor table and gave a nod.

The hat had barely touched his head when it yelled, "Gryffindor".  
"Arthur Weasley", The woman called out finally.

Arthur nervously walked up. I could tell he was hoping to be placed in Gryffindor with Arnold.

"Slytherin house", the hat announced. Arthur paled and walked over to where Jasmine and I were sitting. I gave him a smile of encouragement and turned my head to the teachers table as the Headmistress began making announcements.

"Welcome first years to Hogwarts school of witch craft and wizardry. Welcome back to everyone else. This year I want to advise you that the old girls bathroom is strictly out of bounds, any student caught there will face a term's worth of detention. The new girls bathroom is on the third floor", she warned.

I couldn't help but shake my head, if they didn't want people to go there just block it off or something, don't use reverse psychology and make them curious.

"This year we are happy to welcome Ms Luna Lovegood to our staff as the new Slytherin Head of house and the new divination teacher", Hermione announced.

"I hope everyone has a great year. Time to eat", she smiled.

I was amazed as all of the tables filled with platters of every kind of food imaginable.

"So a Potter in our house ay", A boy sneered. I gulped nervously.

"No way, a light wizard in our house", A girl laughed.

"Stop making a moron of yourself Gina", Jasmine glared at her.

I was glad I had Jasmine with me. She was definetly the best person to have with you in the snakes den.

"A Malfoy", An older boy enquired.

"What's it to you", Jasmine narrowed her eyes at the boy.

He and a large number of the Slytherins seemed slightly shocked.

"So playing friends with Potter are you", Gina taunted.

"Stop being annoying Gina. Tara and Jasmine are in our house, you have no idea who they are. The hat put them in here for a reason, so shut your mouth and leave them alone. That goes the same for the rest of you", A girl with bright blue hair announced and death stared at everyone. She gave me and Jasmine a wink.

I decided then and there that Slytherin house wasn't so bad. Some people might be gits but there was always people who would shut the gits down.

I looked over at Gryffindor table and saw that Myley was being picked on. I looked up at the staff table to see if any of the teachers were monitoring the table. Suprisingly Aunt Mione was looking straight at Myley. I scowled annoyed and poked Jasmine.

I was met with a annoyed look.

"What?".  
"Myley needs our help, the Gryffindors are being gits to her", I pointed over at the Gryffindor table.

"Should we just tell a teacher", Jasmine suggested hopefully.  
"Come on Jasmine", I guilted her.  
"Fine. Bring Arthur with us", Jasmine sighed.

All three of us got up and our tables eyes instantly followed us. As we got closer to the Gryffindor table I felt my stomach flip.

The whole of the Gryffindor table stared at us.

"What are you doing over here Snakes", Edward sneered.  
"We came to check on our friend", I said.  
"Oh the illiterate one", he said, the whole table laughed.  
"I'm sorry Edward I was unaware that you had such an ego problem, it's very serious, if you don't get it fixed soon, it will explode and you'll become a git, oh wait you already are", I taunted.

"Bugger off Potter we don't want slimy Snakes around here", Arnold spat.  
"Stop being a git Arnold, she's just looking out for her friend", Arthur said to his brother.  
"Don't talk to me you traitor. Your an evil filthy Snake", Arnold sneered.

Arthur fell silent at this.

"Guys I'm fine", Myley said half-heartedly.

"Oh shut up illiterate", an older girl laughed.

"Myley come with us", I urged.

"What?", she said confused.

"Come sit at our table. Some people at our table might be gits but atleast Slytherins aren't bullies. Not a single one of you can show any Gryffindor courage and help out someone getting bullied", I glared.

Myley reluctantly followed us. The whole hall stared at us as Myley sat between me and Jasmine. The girl with the blue hair gave us a nod and that made me relax. She seemed like she was atleast partly incharge of our house.

The rest of the evening went well. We finally were sent to go to our dorms. I reluctantly parted with Myley and then Arthur. Luckily me and Jasmine got to share a dorm along with another first year girl Mckenzie Zabini and her twin Millicent Zabini.

I picked the bed next to the window. My bed was next to Jasmine's and across from Millicent. The prefects and the head of house came and gave us a few notices and pointers and then sent us to bed.

I must have drifted of to sleep as I woke to see Jasmine shaking me.

"Tara wake up, hey it's not real, your ok", she said.

I sat up confused. I saw Millicent and Mckenzie come over aswell. I must have woken the whole dorm.

"What happened", I asked having a pretty good idea.  
"You were screaming in your sleep", Mckenzie said slightly annoyed, Millicent shoved her and said an apology.

"Bad nightmare I guess". I said.

"Come on lets go get you some dreamless sleep potion", Jasmine said.

The Zabini twins wished me a good sleep and climbed into their beds. Jasmine threw a black jumper at me and motoned to the door. We were almost out of the common room when our head of house appeared out of nowhere.

"And what might you two girls be doing up at this hour", Ms Lovegood asked.  
"Tara had a nightmare Ms. I said I'd take her to get some dreamless sleep potion", Jasmine said before I could open my mouth.

"Ok. Well maybe you two should take a walk to clear Tara's head from Nargles", she smiled and handed us a hall pass each before turning around and going to her room.

Jasmine and I made our way to the infirmary. Nurse Poppy gave us some dreamless sleep potion. We were half way back to the Slytherin common room when I had an idea.

"Jasmine", I whispered.  
"What?", she yawned tiredly.  
"We should go see Myley", I replied.  
"Tara we'll get in trouble, she's probably already asleep anyway", Jasmine said trying to persuade me otherwise.

"We've got hall passes", I reminded her.  
"Well how would we get in", she pointed out.  
"So your in then", I grinned.  
"Yes", she sighed.

"So how are we going to get in?. They have some kind of password guarding there common room. Plus we don't even know were she".  
"My dear Jasmine, we have a map", I smirked,  
"A map", she said unimpressed.  
"Not just any map, the Marauders map. It shows everyone in the school", I pointed out.

She gestured me to hand it over and I did. She looked astonished.

"Even I think this is awesome. Think of what we could do with a device like this. We could make a few modifications so we could see all kinds of things", Jasmine whispered excitedly.

"I know it's really cool, my Dad used it when he was at Hogwarts", I grinned.

"We still need a way in".

I had a crazy idea and I quickly checked the map to see where Myley was. Her bed was next to a window, perfect.

"Oh I have an idea".

We went back to our dorm, creeping silently through the common room. Our door had made a slight creak but the twins hadn't woke up so we were in the clear.

"So what's the plan?".  
"Simple", I pointed to the window.  
"Tara I'm not climbing out a window", Jasmine shook her head.  
"We're not, were using this".

I unshrunk my broom.

"How did you get that. First years aren't suppossed to have brooms". Jasmine reprimanded.  
"It's all good, I'll shrink it back later", I assured her.

I opened the window and climbed onto my broom. Jasmine climbed on behind me and closed the window.

"Ready", I whispered.  
"Ready", she whispered back.

I kept above or below every window. I'd learnt enough from Dad's stories to know how to sneak out on a broom.

"This is it", Jasmine said as she looked at the map.

I peered through the window and saw Myley sitting up in her bed drawing.

"Myley", I said as I tapped the window.

Myley turned towards us and covered her shriek with her own hand. She gave me a glare and then proceeded to open the window and let us in.

We all sat on her bed and Jasmine shut the curtains, she was the only one that knew how to cast a non eavesdropping spell. She called it Muffiliato or something and insisted that we learn it.

"What are you two doing here, it's the middle of the night", Myley asked.  
"It was Tara's idea", Jasmine answered.  
"Uh you said you were in", I defended.

Myley giggled at our arguing.

"We just wanted to make sure you were fine", I said.  
"Well thanks. I've been fine, we all were sent straight to bed".  
"Do you two want to hand out tomorrow" I asked, we had the whole day to look around and get used to where everything was.

"Yeah, we could study in the library", Jasmine supplied.  
"Uh yeah, just maybe something a bit more fun like exploring", Myley replied.

Jasmine glared at Myley.

"We can to both", I smiled, hoping they would stop glaring at eachother.

We talked for another hour until Jasmine finally persuaded us to go to bed. We stealthily got back to our dorm and went to bed, we'd had a big day. I skulled the dreamless sleep potion and for once had a perfect, unbroken sleep.

...Hope the chapter was ok, plz review and tell me your ideas and opinions. Shadow


	4. Chapter 4

I groaned as Jasmine shook me awake and made me get up. I quickly got dressed in my Hogwarts robes and went into the common room with Jasmine as we waited for Arthur. I felt slightly out-of-place. It was my first day of classes and I hadn't really prepared myself for it. 

Everyone else in the common room had their robes on neatly and acted all sophisticated. Well most of them did; I'd noticed that the girl with the blue hair just did whatever she felt like. I was surprised no-one said anything to her, although I was beginning to suspect that she was the boss here as everyone listened to what she said. 

"Alright let's go", I turned to see Arthur and Jasmine walking towards the door. I followed them. We only walked for a few minutes when we stopped outside the entrance of the hall. 

"So explain to me again Jasmine why we are waiting here?", he said sleepily. 

"We're waiting for Myley", I told him as Jasmine rolled her eyes at his current state. 

Myley came down soon enough and we made our entrance into the hall. Myley didn't bother even trying to sit at the Gryffindor table and went straight to the Slytherin table with us. No-one gave us trouble and I was glad for it, I didn't need enemies on the first week of school. 

Breakfast was passing quickly and Jasmine gave us our time tables. Luckily Myley shared most classes with us. I didn't want to lose a friend before the term had even started. 

"So we've got Potions first", Jasmine pointed out as I finished my toast. 

"Who's the Professor?", Myley asked.

"Professor Agatha", Jasmine answered as she continued going over the time-table.

Myley choked on her drink and sent juice spraying everywhere. Everyone stared for a few seconds and then turned away.

"What?", I asked confused.

"That's an evil witch name", Myley said as she waved her arms aound dramatically.

"It's a common witch name. Agatha Ramoray was a powerful witch, around before Merlin, lots of Purebloods name their children after her as a tribute", Jasmine explained. 

The bell went and we made our way to Potions class. I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. Dad had always told me how horrible his classes were, then again he had Severus Snape. A man who was in love with his mother before she was killed by his Master. Hopefully it wouldn't be the same for me. 

We sat down and waited for Professor Agatha. Arthur sat with Amy Creevey, in an attempt to get to know other people. 

Jasmine got out a parchment and quill and hushed us every time we went to ask her something. 

Our Professor walked in with a grin. Grey shaggy hair covered one eye and went down to her shoulders. She had a bead necklace and blue robes. She reminded me of a Gypsy.

"Good morning class", she greeted and placed her bag and books on her desk

"Good morning Miss", The class said in unison.

"Today is your first potions class and we're going to start with something fun. We're going to go over the basic safety rules and I'm going to give you some ingredients and I want to see what you can come up with", She smiled at the class.

So far I didn't mind this Professor.

After Miss Agatha gave us a run down of the rules we were put in pairs and I shuffled over to Myley and Jasmine.

I looked down at the ingredients and barely recognised any of them.

"Uh any ideas?", Myley asked unsure.

"We should make a random potion, a mix of stuff", I suggested.  
Jasmine sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Let's make a colouring potion", Jasmine suggested.

"Wait that exists?", Myley asked.

"Yes", Jasmine replied with an odd expression.

We got to work, following Jasmine's instructions to the word. I watched as Jasmine prepared the Purple Gilyweed and cut it into exact strips.

"You're really good at this Jasmine", I said as I did two clockwise stirs and let it rest.

"Thanks, Myley can you add three of the Beazor chunks?", Jasmine asked Myley.

"Sure", was the reply, "This one right?", Myley said as she threw some into the cauldron.

"Myley no!", Jasmine and I shouted.

Myley had added Black Besrin, they looked very similar and considering that Myley was new to the subject who could blame her.

The cauldron bubbled and we dived away as the cauldron exploded, sending green blobs all over us.

Jasmine sighed annoyed.

"Myley!", She grumbled.

"Uh my bad", Myley said sheepishly.

We turned around and found Professor Agatha standing there.

"It's alright girls, we'll clean you up and then you can tell the headmaster about the incident. You're not in trouble but we just need a report so the school can claim insurance for the cauldron", The Gypsy like woman explained.

"Sure", I said as I wiped a piece of green blob from my hair.

Jasmine cast a cleaning charm that got rid of most of the green, only leaving some green discolouring that could be washed off later.

Jasmine didn't seem as angry as before so Myley decided to apologise.

"Uh sorry guys", Myley said sheepishly.

"It's fine Myley, you didn't know", Jasmine replied.

"Are you sure", she said doubtfully.  
I smiled as Jasmine just turned around and hugged Myley.

"All is forgiven", Jasmine smiled, "It was pretty funny", she grinned.

"True", I agreed.

We got a note from Miss and we made our way to the Headmistress's office. I sighed as we made our way up the steps. My first day and I was already in trouble. Way to continue the Maruader tradition Tara I thought.

We knocked on the door.

"Come in".

We walked in and Aunt Hermione sighed.

"Really Tara", she sighed, "What happened?".

"Well we were in potions and our cauldron exploded", I shot a look at Myley.

"So Myley Simmons and Jasmine Malfoy, interesting".

"So someone put the wrong ingredient in your cauldron", She asked.

"Yes", I said pointedly.

She thought for a few minutes and sighed.

"Miss Malfoy I understand that your father, Draco, has a grudge against Tara's father, Harry, but that is no excuse to sabotage someone's potion", Hermione shook her head.

"But I didn't", Jasmine said confused.

"Miss Malfoy, don't deny that you did something when you clearly did", The headmaster said angrily.

"Miss it wasn't sabotage, it was an accident", Myley insisted.

"You don't need to cover for her, she did the wrong thing".

I started getting annoyed, she wasn't listening.

"She didn't do anything, we were working together and Myley put black Besrin in instead of Beazor chunks. It was entirely an accident. If you'd read our note instead of just dumping it on your desk, you'd know we only came up here to give a report so the school can claim insurance", I said heatedly.

"Tara Potter don't speak to me like that", Hermione demanded.

"Why, you weren't listening. You were getting angry with Jasmine even though she didn't do anything", I replied with a glare.

The Headmistress went silent and it served her right. She was just being prejudiced and assuming things. For someone apparently so smart, she doesn't seem it I thought to myself grimly.

I looked over at Jasmine and felt bad. She was such a nice, smart girl and she was getting accused of an accident all because of who her Dad was. She looked sad and I knew why. Jasmine strived to do her best and be an exemplary student and here she was getting yelled at my the Headmistress for nothing.

"Um alright", Hermione sighed as she finished reading their note, "You can go girls, don't let me see you in my office again".

I felt pretty annoyed that Aunt Hermione didn't even apologise. We walked out and I made quite a racket, stomping on the floor.

The bell went and we went to our next class.

Flying. 

We sat down on the grass waiting for the instructor. 

"Uh Jasmine are you ok?", I asked quietly.

"I'm fine, I , I just thought if I was good enough people would see me as better than my Dad. Obviously not though", she scowled.

"Jasmine don't worry. You're so smart and pretty, you shouldn't care about what the Headmistress said", I said the last part distasteful.

First she ignored Myley getting bullied, and now blamed Jasmine.

"Guys come on, she just hates me", Jasmine sighed.

"Who cares if she does, she's a stupid teacher. Wait til you get your test results at the end of the year, she'll be jealous of how much better you are than what she was", Myley said with a grin.

Jasmine laughed at that.

The teacher, Professor Tempo made her way out. She gave brooms to each of us. Jasmine looked nervous.

"Good Morning kids now I want you all to raise your hand over a broom and say 'up' alright", Professor Tempo asked.

"Up", I said, the broom flew into my hand. I looked over at Myley, she was having a bit of trouble but it was to be expected, this was her first time flying. Jasmine didn't seem to have a problem. Like me and a lot of the kid's in our year, we grew up in Wizarding families and had already flown before.

"Good, good", professor Tempo smiled.

Everyone had got their brooms in their hands and Miss started telling us about Quiditch.

"Quidditch is one of the most popular sports in the Wizarding. It involves seven players; three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper and a Seeker. The Chasers job is to keep possession of the Quaffle, which is a ball, and score points through their opponents three hoops. The Beaters have bats and keep Bludgers away from their team mates. The Keeper protects the teams hoops, sought of like a Muggle Goalie in Soccer. Finally the most important player is the Seeker; the Seeker catches the Snitch that is worth 150 points, the game ends once the Snitch is caught", She explained.

Jasmine and I were entranced as Miss went on, I noticed Myley looked bored, I guess we weren't going to like all the same things.

Miss got out a Quaffle and a Bludger and let us pass them around. When the Bludger got to Edward he threw it towards us. Jasmine pulled us down and the Bludger smacked straight into the unsuspecting professor's head.  
We crowded around professor Tempo's unconscious form. Jasmine looked shocked.

"Tara we should get a teacher", Jasmine said as she stared at Miss worriedly.

"Yeah you should, me and Myley will stay here and make sure Edward doesn't do anything else stupid", I replied as a glared at Edward.

Jasmine ran as fast as she could towards the Castle. Edward, Tiffany and Arnold walked over and I knew we were in for trouble.

"It was all your faults you slimy snakes", Arnold shouted.

"Uh how?", Myley said outraged, "You guys threw a Bludger at us".  
Edward scoffed.

"Yeah and it wouldn't have hit the professor if you hadn't moved out-of-the-way, it's your guys fault".

I shook my head. I knew this argument wasn't going to go anywhere, despite whatever we said.

"I suppose I can't expect any better from Snakes", Arnold spat.  
Edward, Arnold and Tiffany shared a laugh.

They walked over to the professor and grabbed her wand. Great, just great I thought to myself.

Edward started waving it around and was mimicking the professor.

"I'm professor Tempo. Now class I want you to be babies and say 'up'. Good now that all of you can do that let's talk about boring safety rules, blah, blah, blah", Edward said in a high-pitched tone.

Personally I thought he sounded like his usual idiotic self.  
Most of the class laughed as Edward got on his broom and began flying around and waving the professor's wand.

"I'm a professional loser", he laughed.

Edward held Miss's wand out and grinned.

"I wonder if the stupid Woman's wand will snap if I drop it", he questioned with a smile.

I grabbed my broom and flew up to face him. Having your wand snapped was like losing a limb, there was no way I was letting Edward break the wand, I didn't give a damn about him being the Minister of Magic's son.

"Potter", he spat.

"Give it Edward", I demanded. I focused on staying steady as I felt myself drop slightly.

"If you want it come get it", Edward grinned and zoomed towards the sky.

I followed closely behind, doing a few swirls and dives. Edward dived down, he held it out and pulled up five metres from the ground. He looked back, obviously hoping that I'd crashed, I just grinned.

I smiled as I felt my hair wisp around and the feel of the rushing air against my skin. I sped up and flew along side Edward. He barged into me and we curved around the side of the Castle. I steadied myself again and stuck my arm out to grab the wand from Edward.

He rolled around to avoid me and I pushed into him. He looped around to where our class was watching in awe as we maneuvered around. Edward looped again and we faced each other.

"Give it Edward", I repeated.

Edward grinned and tossed it over and descended to the ground. I was confused but descended as well. Just before I touched the ground I heard a shout.

"Tara Potter, why are you flying and why do you have a professor's wand?", Headmistress Granger shouted.

Myley shot a glare at the three loser Lion's and I saw Jasmine face palm.  
I smiled sheepishly at Aunt Hermione and followed her into her office for the second time today. She left me inside and waited outside for my Mum, apparently this was a serious matter. She'd just hushed me when I had tried to explain that it was Edward's fault. 

I looked at the row of portraits of the previous Headmasters of Hogwarts. Non of them talked as they had been frozen, like many of the troublesome ghosts. It felt kind of wrong to me. I noticed Aunt Hermione had heaps of little objects aligned evenly along her back bookcase. 

I walked over quietly and felt a little sting as I touched a small, purple cube. I surmised that it must have been warded in some way, which was sought of odd. I looked at a few of the books. A small sparkle in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I turned to see a silver old style key, it had a bulky end and a circle on the end of the handle. I picked it up and examined it. 

Most of the rooms at Hogwarts were upgraded with flash card locks. Similar to a muggle keycard. You swiped a square with you flash card and it opened or locked the door or draw. 

I was curious as to what it would be used for. Before I could get a better look I heard footsteps. I raced back to my seat, just in time I might add, an angry-looking Aunt Hermione and a worried looking Mum walked in.

"So Tara, would you like to explain why you thought it would be a good idea to take a Professor's wand and fly around?", She said with that disapproving look.  
Mum just sighed.

"I didn't. Well I did but it was only because Edward took it and was flying around. Do you honestly think I would do something like that for laughs?", I answered.  
Aunt Hermione didn't seem to believe me.

"You have detention with your Head of House tonight".

"But that's not fair", I argued.  
I looked at Mum for support. She just shot me a smile.

"Hermione you know Tara, why would she do this?".

"It's not that I don't believe her Ginny. It's that I can't be seen giving Tara special treatment because I'm her Aunt. The Students and Staff will think that I'm abusing my powers as Headmistress". Hermione scoffed.  
I could tell that Mum wasn't happy. Aunt Hermione had used that Know-It-All tone that Mum hated.

"So all you care about is keeping your job. You don't care what is right or wrong as long as you're getting gold stars", Mum said angrily.

"Ginny you're smart alright, you know that I need this job. It's not like I'm punishing an attempted murder victim for someone trying to murder them. I need the Board to see that I'm a great Headmistress", Hermione sighed.  
Mum turned to me and gave me a defeated look.

"Tara take the detention", she said to me, "But Granger we are going to have words, some bad words", Mum glared at Aunt Hermione.  
I just nodded and once dismissed, walked out with Mum.

"Take the detention, but do some Weasley and Marauder style pranking", Mum grinned at me.

I hugged her and then watched as she went down the hall to the administration. And then the bell went, 'Thank Merlin'.  
I went to the hall and smiled as I spotted Myley, Arthur and Jasmine.

"Hi", I greeted as I put some food onto my plate.

Myley looked like she was about to burst.

"So what happened?", Myley squealed excitedly.

Jasmine gave her a shove.

"I thought you were going to be expelled or suspended", Jasmine said worriedly.

"It's fine guys. The Headmistress gave me a detention", I answered.

And now it was Arthur's turn.

"She gave you detention for stopping Edward", he said outraged.

"Yeah, she wants to be a 'straight A' Headmistress", I sighed.

"She's like that".

I turned to look behind us. Standing there was the Queen of Slytherin.

"Might I ask what your name is?", Jasmine asked politely.

"Kayla, Kayla Templin", Kayla smiled.

I smiled to myself when I saw Jasmine being all professional. So far I figured there was two sides to her. She was either the play it safe kind of girl or full on business kind of girl. This was definitely her Slytherin side coming out.

"So how long has she been like this?", I asked. Kayla would probably know a lot more about Hogwarts than we did.

"Ever since the Board got up at her when she wanted to expel a Board members heir. It didn't matter that he used an 'Unforgivable'. Granger didn't want to lose her job. She's practically useless", Kayla answered.

She looked at Arthur and shrugged.

"No offence Arthur", she added.

The bell went and Kayla left. I looked towards Jasmine.

"We have a free period, don't we?", I asked a bit unsure.

I honestly had lost my time-table already. I wasn't sure whether it was when the potion exploded or when I went flying.

"Yes Tara, I assume you lost it already", Myley laughed.

I just smiled at her. I looked over at Arthur, he didn't look happy.

"Cheer up Arthur. Lets go exploring", I grinned.

We all shared excited looks. I laughed when Myley gave me a sour look.

"Some of us are in Gryffindor and have Herbology", Myley sighed, "See you later guys", she added before walking off.

The other students began filing out one after the other.

"So what should we do now?", Arthur questioned.

"Why don't we go to the library?", Jasmine supplied.

"Yeah, sure", I nodded.

We walked out of the hall and made our way to the stair cases.

"Uh do you know where the library is?", I asked Jasmine.

"No", she admitted.

"Well you're lucky that I do", Arthur grinned.

I gave Jasmine a sceptical look. Arthur was smart, but he had the worst GPS skills I'd ever seen. I mean I thought Mum was bad, but Arthur was way worse.  
Eventually after a few wrong turns we made it to the library. surprisingly it was empty, completely bare.

"Well this should be fun", Arthur said annoyed.

"Shhh", I said.

I moved over to the nearest book shelf and peeped through the books.

"I swear if we don't figure out how to unlock that wall the Board is going to fire us. They expect us to figure out what Dumbledore hid there. I agree that it is either dangerous or valuable though. I just wish it wasn't at the Chamber of Secrets entrance", the Headmistress said angrily.

I was confused, what was she on about. I motioned for the others to crouch down and stay silent.

"I know. That man was crazy. The writing on the wall is untranslatable, if I didn't know any better I would suspect it to be Parsel Tounge", A strange-looking woman asked.

I'd never seen her before. A quick glance at the others with the response of shaking heads confirmed that the other guys had no idea who she was.

"Well Harry Potter is the only alive Parsel Tounge, well except her", Hermione said annoyed.

"True. Should we bring in some Ministry employees maybe?", The mysterious lady asked.

Aunt Hermione shook her head.

"No. If they get involved Neville will say that the school is unsafe. I'm not losing my job". she growled.

"Calm down Granger. All I want is the stone. We both know that Flamel isn't dead. If we have it that means money wont be a problem, it does turn everything into gold", she chuckled greedily.

"I know", Hermione said annoyed at the mysterious lady's tone.

"I'm just saying, we've looked in his vaults and at his house, this could be it".

"Ok so get me some more pictures, Google does wonders", Hermione grinned.

"Google?", she questioned confused.

So at least we knew she was a Pureblood.

"It's a muggle thing. Anyway I'll see you later Lestrange".

With that the mysterious lady, now known as Lestrange, began walking out the door, shortly after followed by the Headmistress.

I held my breath as we ducked down to avoid being caught. After a minute or so we got up and sat at the nearest table.

"Uh what in the name of Merlin was that?", I said confused.

"What is my Mum doing?", Arthur added.

Jasmine looked deep in thought and then looked up.

"So there must be a wall that is locked by something near the entrance of the chamber of secrets. It could possibly have Parsel Tounge written on the walls and might house the Philosophers stone", Jasmine summarised.

"Uh for once I actually might have an idea what's going on. Well sought of", I added at their sceptical looks.

"Hey I'm not stupid", I defended.

"So?", Arthur pressed.

"Ok well my Mum was trapped in the Chamber of Secrets when she was Hogwarts. Uncle Ron and my Dad saved her", I answered.

"Really, my Dad did that", Arthur said unbelieving.

Now it was our turn to give him a sceptical look.

"I love my Dad and sure he's an Auror. That doesn't mean he's some brave Gryffindor. My Mum is always complaining about how he's scared of Spiders and all sorts of things", Arthur shrugged.

"I'm serious. Dad must have told me the story a hundred times", I assurred him.

"I'm with Tara on this. I remember my Dad mentioning that people got petrified". Jasmine agreed.

Jasmine walked through the shelves, scanning the book titles. A few minutes later she came back with an old looking book.

"What's that?", Arthur asked.

"A book", I gave him a confused look.

"No I meant what's the title".

"Nicholas Flames, the greatest Alchemist to date", Jasmine answered and dropped the book on the table with a thud.

"Ok so why do we need that?".

"Because Nicholas Flamel created the Philosopher's stone", Jasmine sighed.

"Seriously guys, do I have to do all of the thinking around here".

"I remember being told about it by Dad. He said Dumbledore destroyed it and that Nicholas Flamel died", I said.

My statement was met with wide eyes.

"What? Lots of stuff happened at Hogwarts during my Dad's schooling".

We all shared what we knew about the Chamber of Secrets and the Philosopher's Stone. We surprisingly came up with a lot of information.

"Ok so far we know that a Basilisk was petrifying students. That Tara's Mum was possessed by a diary of a young Voldemort, that Voldemort was after the liquid of life from the stone and that the stone was supposedly destroyed by Dumbledore", Jasmine summarised.

"So anyone ever heard of the name Lestrange?", Arthur asked.

I thought about it, but couldn't place it to anyone I knew about.

"What about you Jasmine?", I asked as she hadn't responded.

"It's the name of my dead Great Aunt Bellatrix. She was a Black before she married. I would have thought you would know the Black Family Tree?", Jasmine answered.

"Did she have any kids?".

"Not as far as I know. My Grandmother never talks about her. Dad sometimes does if she's not around. She was apparently crazy and was one of the only female Death Eaters that served Voldemort during his reign", she answered.

"I wonder what else my Mum does in her spare time. She probably secretly works for the Dark Lady", Arthur said annoyed.

I understood why he felt like that, who wouldn't. His Mum had been involved in most of our conversations at Hogwarts and not spoke of in a good way.  
The bell rung and we made our way to our next class.

History.

We sat down and I wished that Myley was in more of our classes. I also felt very sceptical about how this subject would go. My parent's had told me how a ghost had taught their History classes and that most people slept through the class.  
The professor walked in and I gave a sigh of relief. 

"Good morning class. My name is Paul Smith, you are to address me as professor Smith", He concluded. 

'Thank Merlin they have a new professor to teach this class'.  
We began copying of the board and after a good twenty minutes I was finished. I felt myself staring at a boy called Adam. Even at eleven he was handsome and had a kind of natural beauty. I pulled my pendant out from my robe and fiddled with it.  
Eventually everyone was done and professor Smith began talking. 

"This term we are going to focus on the history of Hogwarts. I would like you all to get in groups of three's and research an event that had happened at Hogwarts".  
His words were met with the screeching of chairs and the shuffling of feet. Arthur moved over closer to me and Jasmine and we began discussing our ideas. The one thing we all agreed on was the topic,'The Chamber of Secrets. 

"What if we just do an essay and a poster", Arthur shrugged.  
I grinned as Jasmine gave him a death glare. 

"What?", he asked. 

"That's just to common. We should do an essay, a picture book about the events and a diorama of the chamber", She answered. 

I once again grinned at their argument. 

"Tara that's too much work, isn't it?", Arthur asked. 

"I'm with Jasmine on this. We should do something cool", I answered. 

Arthur just shook his head in annoyance and muttered "Girls". 

We ended up deciding that we'd each be in charge of a task.

"Guys I don't know how to make a book?", Arthur exclaimed and put his hands in the air.

"Mr Weasley", the teacher said as he gave him a sharp look.  
Arthur blushed and sheepishly put his arms down.

"You do the writing and the pictures and I'll bind it together", Jasmine said.  
"Fine".

"I'll write the essay", Jasmine offered.

"Sure. I don't mind arts and craft", I nodded.

The bell sounded and we waited until everyone else walked out so we could avoid the stampede of students. By the time we got back to our dorms and got changed it was four. We went to the hall to find Myley. We got to the Slytherin table and sat next to her.

"I hate Herbology. Seriously, like would it kill the professor to have an indoor class so no-one gets muddy", Myley huffed.

"I'm sure you will survive", Arthur laughed.

Myley went red in the face.

"You weren't the one that had to deal with Edward and his lackeys", she grumbled.

"True, nothing can trump having to deal with the Gryffindor trio", I agreed.  
We all bursted into laughter. Earning a few looks from the other Slytherin's.

"Anyway we should look around for the chamber, it'll be fun. I'm pretty sure it was in a bathroom somewhere?", I said a bit uncertain."Yeah, with a ghost girl", I added.

"Well I guess that's the first place we should look", Arthur grinned.

"Hold up. What are you three on about?", Myley said confused.  
The three of us shared a look. We'd forgotten to tell Myley.

"We were in the library during our free period and we heard an interesting conversation".

"Uh about what?", Myley asked frustrated.  
Jasmine looked around the table and shook her head.

"We should talk about it somewhere else, somewhere more private", She said.

We all nodded in understanding and got up. We followed Arthur outside. We ended up at a lake. It was getting colder at this time of year. Winter was just around the corner. Luckily for us that meant that most other students were inside.  
Arthur started attempting to tell Myley what had happened but Jasmine interrupted, Arthur had gotten annoyed and had told Jasmine to tell her then. Jasmine did and Myley was shocked by the end of it.

"Awesome!", Myley grinned.

"Ok so we're all caught up?", I questioned, trying to make sure we were on the same page.

"Uh actually I need some insight on the Dark Lady and her followers?", we all gave her awkward looks.

"I'm not crazy, I just was only told a few things by the Ministry official that visited our house. I know Tara's Dad killed the Dark Lord but that's about it. I mean they said she was a murderer and evil and wanted to rid the world of Muggleborn and Muggles", Myley explained.

I went to speak but found I couldn't. This topic was one that myself and many others disagreed on. I didn't want my friends thinking that I some kind of DL supporter though so I kept my mouth shut. Jasmine could probably give a better explanation anyway.

Surprisingly Arthur was the first to speak.

"Ok so this makes sense I'll start at the beginning. There was this Wizard called Albus Dumbledore, he's considered one of the greatest Wizard's of all time".  
Myley nodded.

"He had a best friend called Grindelwald. Grindelwald started a following and became a Dark Lord. One of the worst, only second to Voldemort and the Dark Lady. Dumbledore defeated him eventually and then he was locked up. Dumbledore became a leader of the light side. Years later a boy called Tom Riddle, a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, came to Hogwarts. He later became the Dark Lord Voldemort. He killed heaps of people but one night was killed by his own killing curse when it rebounded of Harry Potter", Arthur explained. 

At this point Jasmine took over.

"It was peaceful for a while but then Voldemort, or a wraith of Voldemort, was resurrected at the Triwizard Cup. He survived because he'd made Horcrux's. These kept him alive. Voldemort and his followers began taking over. Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger then set of to destroy his Horcrux's. They did, they had a big battle here at Hogwarts and then he was killed. Then a year or so before we were born the Dark Lady emerged. No-one's certain whether or not she's his daughter or just a woman taking his place". 

As Jasmine said that I felt confused. I was pretty sure the DL was the daughter of Voldemort. It could just be what I've heard or something though. I lost my train of thought. 

"She made a massive following. She stands for blood purity and kills heaps of Muggles. Everyone expects Tara's Dad to kill her", Jasmine finished.  
Myley nodded. Greatful that she wasn't so uninformed about everything.

"Oh and um Voldemort opened the Chamber of Secrets when he was in school but then closed it. My Dad also opened it during school when my Mum was trapped down there", I added.

"Ok so we should go there and look for the entrance", Arthur said.

"But we might get in trouble?", Jasmine said worried, "The third floor is banned".

"We'll just say we got lost. It's not like they will think we're searching for something. They have no idea that we heard them", Arthur assured her.

I laughed at them.

"What Tara?", The other three asked confused.

"We can just ... just take ... my ... my invis ... invisibility cloak", I struggled to say through fits of laughter.

I took a few deep breaths and regained control of my laugher. The others sighed. I ran back to the Slytherin dorm and grabbed my invisibility cloak. Dad would kill me if he found out that I'd brought it to Hogwarts.

I ran through the common room earning a few glances and I quickly slowed down and sped walked the rest of the way. I rejoined the others and we made our way to the third floor.

It wasn't hard to find the third floor. It was painfully obvious actually. The walls had out-of-bounds signs and red tape.

"Do you think we can just walk through?", Jasmine asked uneasily.

"Yeah", Myley answered as she walked right through.  
We all trailed after her.

The bathroom looked old. I mean the Castle looked old but this looked ancient. The walls were split with cracks and dry paint flaked onto the floor. In the centre of the room there was a massive column surrounded by ornate sinks.

"Anyone see anything odd?", I asked as I walked over to the nearest wall.

"Nothing besides that it's ancient", Myley rolled her eyes.

"No", Arthur answered.

We looked for a while but the dinner bell sounded. Our search was a fail and we begrudgingly went to dinner.

Sorry for the long wait and the rushed ending.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

I sighed as I began writing on parchment. So far I hadn't written to Dad. Mum had seen me the other day but all they knew so far was that I was in Slytherin.

I stopped and fiddled as I tried to figure out what to write. I didn't think that he would mind that I was in Slytherin, it was more my friend choice. I knew that he'd approve of Myley and Arthur but I wasn't so sure about Jasmine. I shook my head annoyed and put the pen down.

We had been searching for a few days for the entrance of the chamber. So far it had eluded us. Our History project was going well though. Suddenly I knew what I could write to him about. I could ask about the Philosophers Stone and the Chamber of Secrets. Technically it did relate to my History project.

I began putting my pen to paper.

'Dear Dad,  
So far Hogwarts has been fun. I have made a few friends and I'm doing ok in my subjects. We have to do a project on the history of Hogwarts. My group chose 'The Chamber of Secrets'. I know what you already have told me, but I was wondering about the entrance. So far we haven't found any references about where it was. There is a new girl's bathroom so I dont have a clear idea in my head for a drawing. I hope that you can fill me in on more details when you get a chance. Also my friend is doing her assignment on the Philosophers Stone and she asked me for some information, I figured that I'd just ask you. Love you.

Tara Potter.'

I folded it and placed it in an envelope. I walked to the Owlery before classes started. I trudged up the old steps of the tower and took a few minutes to catch my breath.

Suddenly a thought sprung to the forefront of my mind. My real Mother was called Jade. I had ignored the memory for the past few days as I had been drowning myself in our History assignment.

Honestly I wasn't sure what it meant. Dad had always been tight lipped and refused to tell me much. Infact all I knew was that she died when I was young. Mum had no idea who she was. But why was that memory locked in my head, surely I wouldn't remember anything from being a few weeks old.

I shook my head and gave my letter to a school Owl and hurried down to Slytherin table. I shoved away the thoughts about my birth Mother and grinned as I heard a shout from the head table.

I turned my head as I sat down and faked shock at the sight of an angry Headmistress. Aunt Hermione's skin had turned blue.

"I knew it, she was secretly a Smurf!", Kayla shouted.

This earned a round of laughter from 3 of the 4 tables. It was easy to guess that Gryffindor had stayed silent.

The Headmistress stormed out and I smiled at Myley with a knowing look.

"Hey she gave you detention, I told you it was only a matter of time", Myley shrugged.

Jasmine grinned and I shot a suprised look at her.

"What? Myley was going to blow herself up on her own. But it's only a one time thing alright. You could get in so much trouble'.

Arthur mumbled something like 'Rules girl' or something similar.

Jasmine flicked her shiny blonde hair back and rolled her eyes at Arthur.

"Well it's true, you are a goody two shoes", he shrugged.

"No I'm pretty sure it's called being smart", Myley giggled.

Arthur just glowered.

"So did you get that letter written?", Jasmine asked curiously.

"Yep. I asked about the entrance. Hopefully he'll tell me where it is", I smiled.

I gobbled down some toast and then the class bell went. It was thursday which meant we had ... uh no idea I thought. I looked towards Jasmine with a smile.

She just rolled her eyes.

"We've got DADA".

I grinned, that meant we had Myley with us.

I followed them to the DADA classroom. The door was unlocked and I sat next to Myley and waited patiently for Professoer Shacklebolt. Last lesson we'd started learning about the differences between the types of magic. Suprisingly Jasmine hated this subject and Myley excelled at it.

"Good morning class. I hope you've all come prepared for today's lesson", The proffesor said.

He sat down at his desk and a piece of chalk began to write notes on the board. We began working, copying down the notes. As per usuall I was finished first and I felt my gaze drift to Adam. He was in Myley's house and so far she thought he was stuck up.

He was a muggleborn from London. Myley said he was an athletic person as far as she knew. I had talked to him once or twice and he seemed nice. Maybe Myley had trouble with him because she had such antagonistic personality, especially towards Gryffindors.

"Tara", some one whispered.

I turned my head to see Jasmine.

"What?", I whispered back.

"Stop staring at him. Finish your work", Jasmine answered.

I picked up my parchment and showed it to her.

"I'm already done", I replied.

Jasmine just shook her head and sighed. She began finishing her notes and I was slightly suprised by her unenthusiastic atttitude towards this class. I realised that it was probably the whole Malfoy reputation of serving Voldemort in the past. She wouldn't want people to think that she was going to join the DL or something like that.

A few minutes later the class began to chat as everyone was almost finished. As usuall Edward began to boast about himself, his father and the ministry.

"You know when I'm of age I'm going to become an Auror and defeat the Dark Lady", he said in his usuall snobbish tone.

I wasn't paying much attention to his conversation but his mention of the Dark Lady piqued my interest.

"The Aurors at the ministry say that they haven't been able to kill her yet because she never shows up during fights or raids. She's probably just really weak. But I'll be able to kill her, I'm a Longbottom", Edward boasted.

I almost laughed at his words.

I couldn't believe my eyes when Proffesor Shacklebolt tensed and scowled as Edward continued to proclamations about his greatness. My head started coming up with crazy reasons as to why he had reacted that way.

I remembered how Proffesor Tempo had told us in potions that the most likely answer to a question was the simplest one. It was called the Ocum Razor theory, or something similar.

The simplest idea I came up with was that he was a Death Eater. I shook my head trying to get rid of that thought. Then again the DADA position was rumored to be cursed by Voldemort. Dad had always said how every year he had, had a new DADA teacher. I figured that I'd ask Kayla about who had been the DADA teacher for the past few years.

"You know the Death Eaters are actually pretty weak, most of them kill themselves rather than risk being caught. They are to scared of being interrogated", Arnold said loudly.

"Yeah they are just cowards", Edward laughed.

Tiffany as usuall was just laughing at whatever the two boys said.

Edward made another rather colourful comment about the DL and Proffesor Shacklebolt went livid.

"That's enough of your deroguetory comments. This is my classroom and unless you wish to speak about DADA related topics I implore you to shut your mouth", The Professor shouted angrily.

This shut the Golden trio right up. I thought that it was sought of funny that technically we were learning DADA for defence against the DE's and DL, therfore that technically meant what Edward was saying had been DADA related.

"Next lesson we are going to learn about a spell that is considered a light spell. It's simply used as a shield from spells. It's called Protego. I want you all to read the chapter on the spell in your textbook. It's only ten pages so most of you should finish it by the end of the lesson. If not read the rest tonight", Professor shacklebolt ordered.

I got to work quickly and I found the spell really interesting. It was used to block spells. It's strength depended on the caster and sometimes it appeared as a mist when in weak form. The movements were simple enough. I was actually suprised that I'd never seen this spell before.

I wished Dad hadn't always been so reluctant when I was younger to teach me about magic. I'd mainly learned stuff in the library when it wasn't locked. Dad barely ever let us go in there and never on our own.

The bell sounded as I finished the last page and I packed up my stuff and exited with Myley, Jasmine and Arthur.

"Hurry up Tara", Arthur said grumpily.

He'd been in a bad mood about Arnold. Arnold refused to speak to him at all and I guess it hurt him alot considering how close the twins used to be.

I followed Jasmine as she directed us to Herbology and Myley split from us to get to History class. It was our second lesson of Herbology so far and the first one had been far from enjoyable for me and Jasmine. It wasn't the dirt for us like Myley, it was the fact that we had an incompetent teacher. Proffesor welps didn't even have a single WTT degree. She had worked as a gardener for the past fifteen years.

To me that meant she was far from qualified. I knew that people getting a mastery in Herbology was rare considering all the training and studying it entailed. Only two Masters had come out of the UK in the past decade. One being the minister of magic himself according to Jasmine.

I frowned as we trudged through the muddy dirt to the Green House. Someone had decided to jump in a puddle and mud splattered just past me and onto Kim Chang. She didn't seem to care. So far all I knew about her was that she had a twin brother called Cedric that was named after Cedric Diggory.

We shortly got to the Green House and I wished I had worn boots as my shoes were wet. So much for waterproof Leather shoes. I decided that during my next visit to the library I would research a spell that kept my feet dry. I hated having to ask Jasmine to do the cleaning spell on me.

"Alrighty dearies", Proffesor Welps smiled, "We are going to learn about Devils Snare".

I almost jumped up and down in triumph when she said that. Devil Snare was one of the only Wizarding plants I knew about. It was like a vine and it hated sunlight. Ok so I couldn't say it as educated as Jasmine would but that was the basics.

"Get out your books are read the chapter on vines and then find a partner and start preparing a pot for your term project", The Professor said.

I joined up with Jasmine and Arthur teamed up with Amy Creevey like he usually did in Potions. Unsuprisingly Jasmine knew how to garden and began ordering me to grab supplies.

"All we have to do is put some dirt in a pot, plant a seed and water it", I rolled my eyes.

"Tara I know that you mightn't like gardening and you probably think it's boring, but imagine all the things you can achieve by gardening. Higher self-esteem, relaxation and excersise", Proffessor Welps smiled.

I was slightly suprised that she snuck up on me. When she moved away I glared at Jasmine.

"You could have told me she was there!".

"Well she was just observing. she's not that bad Tara. Plus I didn't want to get in trouble either", Jasmine replied.

"You're only saying that because you like gardening", I pouted.

I grabbed a mini-spade and shovelled some dirt into the brown pot. I bit my lip as I half slid in mud. Great, just great.

"Tara I don't like gardening ... I like good grades", she smiled.

I just shook my head annoyed and gave her the pot. I watched as she carefully put the seed in like it was some kind of ticking time bomb.

"Jasmine", I prompted.

"Ok Tara", she answered as she dropped the seed in and covered it with soil with the concentration of a surgeon.

We discussed our project, well more like Jasmine listened to me whine about gardening. We'd planted a few Shinwar Beans. I'd learnt that they were like real magic beans, sought of. They were ground up and then sprinkled over other plants to make them grow quicker.

I'd suggested something cool like a Mandrake or Acconite but we needed a plant that grew quickly to have it done in time for the project deadline.

"Hey Tara do you think the Headmistress hates me?", Jasmine questioned sadly.

I was slighly taken aback by her sad tone. I wasn't exactly sure what to tell her. I decided on the truth,

"I think she's just annoyed that you're nothing like your father was at school. She expected a pureblood bigot and was proved wrong. She hates being wrong and tries to pin anything she can on you to prove to herself that she's right". I explained.

Jasmine still seemed down.

"You shouldn't pay her any mind, she's just jealous of your brilliance", I smiled.

Jasmine grinned.

The bell went and I was so glad that Herbology was finally over. We made our way to the great hall and sat at the Slytherin table. Myley was already there chatting away with Kayla.

I remembered my thoughts about the DADA Proffesor.

"Hey Kayla I was wondering has Proffessor Shacklebolt always taught here?", I questioned.

Kayla thought for a moment.

"No. He started at the end of last year. Riddle's curse still seems to be in play. If something doesn't happen to a DADA Proffesor by the end of the year they usually decide to leave before something does", she answered.

Myley turned to me with a curious grin.

"OMG no way. There's a curse on the DADA Proffessor position, since when", she exclaimed.

We all laughed.

I went to respond but Myley was eager to ask me more questions.

"Why do you want to know?

Myley was all giggly and I had a feeling that Arthur had shared some of his Pixy Sticks with her.

"Uh my Dad mentioned to me that it was cursed and I had a crazy thought that Proffessor Shacklebolt was a DL supporter", I shrugged.

Myley looked at me wide-eyed.

"Tara how could you not tell me that, OMG he could be crazy!", she shouted.

A few heads turned towards us and Jasmine shushed Myley.

Kayla went over with some other seventh years and Arthur wore a confused expression.

"What", I questioned.

"We've got a free period right?", He questioned.

"Yeah, so?", Jasmine rolled her eyes.

I often wondered if she got sick of being a human time table.

"So, we can look for the entrance again", he dragged out, looking at us like we were idiots.

I was glad that we were looking for the entrance, it was kind of fun to think that we were in a race against the teachers to uncover the mystery. It also kept my mind off my biological Mum. I'd been ignoring the fact that I was desperate to find out who she was.

"I hate that I'm in Gryffindor. I'm going to have to look on my own, for last class", she grumbled.

"Yeah well have fun with the golden trio", Arthur sighed.

"Yeah good luck Myley", I said.

I felt kind of bad that she was in Gryffindor with heaps of bullies and that we got to be in the same house. Me and Jasmine were lucky that we got to share a dorm as well.

We walked to the old girls bathrooms and began our search. The ground was dirty and I almost slipped on a pile of yellowish, brown water. I looked around the basins in the middle but I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary so I moved onto the floor.

"Tara what are you doing on the floor?", Arthur asked confused.

"Haven't you ever seen any muggle movies", was all I said before I kept looking.

There were a few lose tiles that I pulled up but I still couldn't find anything. The dirty cream tiles crumbled into pieces and I hoped non of them were important.

"Why don't you look in the stalls?", Jasmine suggested to Arthur as he was standing still. He stood at the entrance, he still felt kind of weird going into the girl's bathroom.

"No way Jasmine", He shook his head.

Jasmine just rolled her eyes and entered the first stall.

"Have you tried flushing the toilet?", He asked her.

I gave him a funny look.

"Yes, but I don't think it would be there because people have to flush the toilet after they use them", Jasmine replied.

I kept looking at the tiles but nothing odd came up. I tried to think about what my Dad had told me about the entrance. He had went with Lockhart and Ron down a staircase.

"Hey Jas it would have to be something that leads to a staircase", I shouted loudly from across the bathroom.

"Yep", she yelled back.

After a while Arthur started helping to, desperate for answers.

He bumped into me as he surveyed the floor.

"I already checked the floor Arthur", I said slighty annoyed.

Jasmine stepped out of the stalls and sighed. She got out the journal we had been writing in and wrote down where we'd checked.

The bell rang and we had to get to our next class. Thank Merlin it was transfiguration. Professor Darwin was strict but wasn't mean. He had four WTT degrees which gave me some faith in his teachings, he wasn't just some wizard that studied transfiguration in his spare time. He actually was qualified to teach and had an Auror check.

I sat next to Jasmine and we got out our books as we waited.

"Hey, Tara do you have a pen?", Arthur asked.

I wasn't suprised that he'd lost his pen already. I passed him over my spare pen.

"Try to remember to give it back at the end of the lesson", I sighed.

Jasmine laughed.

Arthur scowled.

"What's so funny?", Arthur asked annoyed.

"Nevermind", Jasmine said as Professor Darwin entered the classroom.

He set down his bag next to his wooden desk and adressed the class.

"Good afternoon class. I'm sure you're all itching to get this class over with and do whatever you do with your afternoons. So I'm not going to give you a bunch of work because I know that you won't do it".

A few 'yes's', echoed through the room. Proffesor Darwin shook his head with a small smile and began the lesson.

Time flew by as we listened to him speak about the laws of transfiguration. I glanced over at Adam a few times which earnt me three jabs in the side from Arthur. I wasn't suprised, he usually scolded me for not paying attention.

I tried my best to pay attention but my mind kept drifting to the Chamber of Secrets. So far we weren't sure what was in there. What could be in there? I had a inkling that it was the Philosopher's Stone. That was what Aunt Hermione and the Lestrange woman had been searching for.

"Tara?".

I blinked a few times in confusion and looked at Arthur and Jasmine. I looked around and the classroom was empty.

"Tara, are you coming?", Arthur asked.

I stood up and followed them out. I'd spaced out again, just great. We walked to the Library and met up with Myley.

We spent at least three hours whispering at the back of the library about what we knew so far. We weren't any closer than we were yesterday and it made me deflate. I wanted an adventure. I wanted to figure this out. Why couldn't anything be simple in my life?

"Uh guys can we go get dinner now? I'm totally starving. Plus I've had to spend class time with the Golden Trio, I think I deserve a break", Myley groaned.

We just laughed at made our way to the Great Hall. It was easy to find a few spare seats at the Slytherin table as it was still early.

"Hey did you hear about the Quiditch tryouts?", Jasmine asked.

I felt like an idiot, I hadn't noticed at all.

"No. When are they?", I asked.

I knew that I wasn't going to be able to join the team until next year but I already had a plan. I wanted to train with them this year so I knew them next year.

"Next week on Friday night", Jasmine answered.

As per usual I felt bad about Jasmine being a walking talking timetable and calendar.

"That'll be awesome, I know that we can't play but it will be cool to see them tryout!", Myley exclaimed.

I was kinda suprised that Myley had ended up liking Quiditch. She was a Muggleborn and she'd only just starting learning about it. Myley had become obsessed when Arthur had complained about his Quiditch stuff. Uncle Ron was obsessed with Quiditch and my Mum didn't help much either.

Uncle Ron wanted Arthur to like all the same stuff he did and Quiditch was a big thing in their famiily. Sadly Arthur hated Quiditch with a passion. He thought it was the most boring, senseless game in existence.

"Yeah. I wonder if our team is any good?", I said.

I almost jumped when I heard Kayla behind me.

"Tara we have the best team ever. Hopefully it will be even better when you join next year", Kayla grinned.

I just smiled back.

It suddenly made me feel bad for Myley. She was in Gryffindor. She might hang out with Slytherin's and sit at our table but she was still in Gryffindor. If we both got onto a team we'd have to verse eachother.

I lost track of the conversation and tried to figure out what they were talking about.

An Owl soared over our table and I wasn't suprised when it landed in front of us. As I'd guessed, it was from Dad.

We all looked at eachother and got up. We brisky walked out of the hall earning a few looks. We went to the Slytherin common room which was dead silent and empty.

I quickly opened the letter and we all went wide eyed.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

We re-read the letter for the third time this morning. Last night we had read it, then got over our shock and read it again. This morning we decided to figure out our next step.

 _ **'Dear Tara,**_

 _ **Hi Honey, I'm glad to hear from you. It's good to hear that you are having fun and making friends. Hopefully History class isn't being taught by Professor Binn's anymore, he made it really boring. As for what I remember about the entrance to the chamber of secrets, well my memories are hazy but I opened it with Parseltounge. The entrance was in front of a tap with a snake symbol on it. The bathroom was circular in design and had the sinks right in the middle. Moaning Mertyle was ghost that haunted the bathroom during my days at Hogwarts, you should include her in your project.**_

 _ **As for the Philosopher stone incident, I don't remember that much as I passed out. Ron Hermione and I got past Hagrid's three headed Dog and we went through the Professor's trials until I got to the mirror of Erised. The Philosopher stone itself was created by Nicholas Flamel, he was an alchemist. Albus Dumbledore destroyed it so Voldemort could not use it to resurrect himself. The stone could turn things into gold and was used by Flamel to make an elixir of life.**_

 _ **Hope this has helped you out. Owl me any time.**_

 _ **Dad'.**_

I put the letter down and grinned. I was glad to finally have some direction.

"So I guess we found where the entrance is", Myley said excitedly.

I grinned but then I felt my stomach churn. If the others found out I was a Parsletounge what would they think. I knew it wasn't an evil trait but Myley and Arthur had a very black and white view on things.

"Uh how are we going to get through the door?", Arthur asked, "None of us speak Parsletounge".

Jasmine gave me a questioning look. I wasn't exactly surprised, Jasmine wasn't stupid. Not that the others were but they tended to not think everything through.

"Maybe we can learn it?", I suggested.

To be honest I wasn't sure if you could learn Parsletounge but I was willing to try, or well to let the others try.

"I don't know if I want to have that skill Tara. I mean the majority of Gryffindor's are dorks but I was talking to Kim Chang and she told me about Voldemort, he was a Parsletounge. She said it's a trait of evil Witches and Wizards", Myley said obviously apprehensive about the idea of learning Parsletounge, "I know that your Dad is a Parsletounge but he got Parsletounge from having that Horcrux thing in him", She quickly added.

As soon as Myley said that I promised myself that I would never tell her I was a Parsletounge. Unlike my Dad I had no excuse from being a Parsletounge. Orion and I could speak Parsletounge because of some technical DNA science stuff.

"Can we figure out this later? I'm starving", Myley wined.

I just laughed as Jasmine rolled her eyes at him.

"I agree, I'm kinda starving guys and breakfast will be over soon. I need all the food I can get today, I have to deal with the Golden Trio", Myley exclaimed in a serious tone.

I put the letter back into my school bag and walked with the others to the Slytherin table. We still got a few odd looks from people when Myley sat down with us but other than that no one gave us any trouble.

I ate two pieces of toast and tried to remember what I had today. Jasmine had written me out a copy of our time table but I'd left it in my room so I didn't lose it.

"Uh Jasmine?", I asked quietly.

"Potions, History, Muggle Studies and DADA", Jasmine replied with a roll of her eyes and a grin.

"Thanks", I smiled, Jasmine knew exactly what I had wanted to know.

Myley and Arthur were yapping about Quidditch again and that made me think of my Mum. She'd played for the Holly Harpies once. I was pretty sure Arthur hadn't mentioned anything about it to Myley otherwise she would've been all over me.

I grabbed my pendant and fiddled with it. For the first time in a long time I wondered where it came from. I'd never paid it much thought. But now that it was on my mind I was curious, I'd had my pendant forever. It had broken once when Orion was a baby. He'd pulled it and the chain had snapped. Dad had fixed it though.

The bell rung and I stood up. I'd have to think about it later. We made our way to Potions. We lined up outside the door and I sighed in annoyance when Edward, Tiffany and Arnold came past us.

Arnold bumped into Arthur as they passed.

"Watch where you're going, Snake!", Arnold spat.

Arnold walked off and laughed with Edward and Tiffany. I glared at the back of their heads and then walked into class.

I sat down behind Arthur and between Myley and Jasmine. Thankfully Edward and his shadows sat up at the front. I felt bad for Arthur as he slouched and said 'hi' to Amy Creevey.

"Alright class today we're going to do some theory. I know that you might think that it's boring but it's important to know the backstory of how things came to be", The professor said as she used a marker to write 'The History of Potions' on the whiteboard.

Annoyingly Potions was one of the only classes to have a whiteboard, the others still used blackboards. Although the 'Muggle Studies' classroom was apparently getting an interactive whiteboard. Orion had told me about them, they were used in most Muggle school's in every classroom.

"Please copy down these notes on some parchment. Try to remember this information because it will be on your end of year test", Professor Agatha added.

I got out my pen and copied down the notes. Thank Merlin Professor Agatha let us use pens. Quill's were so annoying and my ink had a tendency to get knocked over.

I was glad that potions was an interesting subject, I glanced at the back of Arthur's head and he seemed to be slouched and was writing slowly. That surprised me, Arthur loved potions.

I looked back to the board and continued processing the information.

'Potions have been used to influence history. Despite just being a mixture of ingredients, they have tremendous power. The Polyjuice potion has been used to impersonate officials in the Ministry and even teachers at Hogwarts. During the last Triwizard tournament a criminal impersonated Alastor Moody at Hogwarts. Alastor Moody was known as a precautious Auror and even he was impersonated. The Polyjuice potion can render even the strongest Witches and Wizards useless. All it requires is a piece of hair to impersonate them. This is why knowing about potions is important so you can recognize the effects of potions. Polyjuice potion does change a person's appearance but it doesn't change their voice, this is how people are caught out'.

I finished the notes and then began thinking. I should prank Edward. Myley had pranked the headmistress not too long ago and had managed to get away with it. I definitely could do the same.

After a while everyone had finished all the notes and Professor Agatha began speaking again.

"Can anyone tell me what a disadvantage of using the Polyjuice potion is?", she asked.

Half the class raised their hands, me included.

"Tara".

"It doesn't change the user's voice", I answered.

Professor Agatha gave me a smile. All the hands in the class dropped.

"Anyone else?", she asked.

I smiled as Jasmine raised her hand wearily.

"Jasmine".

"Uh it takes a month to brew the potion and it can be unreliable as you have to be certain that the hair is from the intended person", Jasmine answered.

"Very good", Professor Agatha nodded.

I got my pen out again and scribbled down what Jasmine had said.

Professor Tempo went to speak but there was knock at the door. Kayla entered the room and gave us a wave before talking to the Professor. I couldn't hear a thing of what was said, maybe Kayla would tell me if I asked her later.

"Uh class I will be back soon. Talk among yourselves quietly until I get back".

I turned to Myley and grinned, my mind began coming up with crazy schemes.

"Hey Myley, do you want to do a prank", I whispered.

Her eyes lit up.

"Yes, please tell me we ae going to prank the Golden Trio?", Myley asked me, obviously hoping to prank Edward.

"Yes", I answered,

Unsurprisingly Jasmine tapped me on the shoulder a few seconds later.

"Tara, you could get in so much trouble. The Headmistress already has a problem with us", Jasmine warned.

"It's alright Jasmine we'll be careful, you don't have to be involved", I promised.

She laughed quietly.

"What?', I asked with a confused look.

"As if I'd let you three do it on your own. I saw Myley trying to brew a colour changing potion last week and she destroyed her cauldron", she answered with a grin.

We began scheming, soon enough the bell rang and everyone in the classroom looked at each other questioningly and then got up.

The professor hadn't returned but we couldn't stay, we had to get to History. It was odd though, I'd never seen a teacher leave and not come back.

"See you at lunch Myley", I waved as I followed Arthur and Jasmine to History. I felt bad for Myley, she was stuck in Transfiguration with the Gryffindor's.

The door was open so we filed in and sat down.

So far, our project was going well. We still had until Christmas Holidays to have it completed. Every second lesson we worked on our project and the other lesson was spent on learning about Hogwarts.

Jasmine liked having things done though and she planned to have it done before the Halloween feast.

Thankfully this lesson was a project lesson so Arthur, Jasmine and I could push our desks together. Most people spent the lesson messing around and talking but Jasmine made sure we did a chunk before we started talking.

"So how is your project going?".

I turned around to see Professor Smith.

"Almost finished", Arthur said as he looked over his notes.

Professor smith raised his eyebrows and nodded. His blonde hair covered his eyebrows and he leaned down closer to get a better look at our work.

"I see Miss Malfoy is a good motivator for you two", he said.

Arthur shrugged.

"A good Motivator, Slave driver, same thing", he joked.

I swatted him on the arm and we all smiled at each other.

"Well it's good to see that you're all getting along well. Keep up the excellent work", Professor Smith said before walking to another group.

"Hey Tara, this is Edward", Arthur grinned as he showed a picture of a guy surrounded with stink lines.

We all grinned.

I drew my interpretation of Edward and showed it to Arthur.

"Uh Tara, what's that supposed to be?", he asked.

"Isn't it obvious, it's Edward falling off his broom stick", I said.

I looked at Jasmine.

"What do you think?", I asked.

Arthur had to be wrong, he was just blind or something. It was clearly Edward falling from his broomstick.

"Uh yeah, it looks like a bird", she said awkwardly.

I stuck out my tongue. I looked at our book and was glad that I wasn't drawing the pictures. Arthur was doing a decent job with his part and Jasmine had everything written out. I had gathered all the information already so there wasn't much left to do.

Thanks to Jasmine's motivating, or according to Arthur her slave driving, we had already completed my Diorama of the chamber and Jasmine's essay.

"The book can be bound next lesson, right?", I asked.

Arthur gave me the 'Why Tara? Why? look.

"Uh yeah", he said sheepishly.

Jasmine raised her eyebrows.

"You have to illustrate six more pages and you have until the 26th to get it done. It will be ready Tara, it will be handed in before the Halloween feast", Jasmine said to Arthur pointedly.

Arthur sighed.

"Whatever you say Jasmine".

I heard him whisper something along the lines of 'Slave Driving Mad Woman'.

"I heard that", Jasmine grinned.

By the end of the lesson Arthur had finished two more pages and I was anxious to go to the 3rd floor bathroom and open the chamber.

I followed Jasmine and Arthur to the Slytherin table and surprisingly Myley was already sitting down.

"Uh how did you get here so fast? Isn't transfiguration on the other side of the school?", I asked.

She gave us a sheepish look.

"I got an early mark", she explained.

Jasmine gave her a skeptical look.

"Really what for?", she asked.

As far as I was concerned no one got early marks, ever. Something seemed odd about Myley's 'explanation'.

Myley caved under Jasmine's skeptical look.

"Ok fine, somehow a Rat got in Tiffany's bag and she kind of screamed and everyone panicked and Professor Darwin evacuated us into the hall", Myley admitted.

We all laughed.

"So how did you get the Rat in her bag?", Arthur asked.

Myley smirked.

"That's the best thing, I didn't. It wasn't me. Mr Squeakils must have found some food in her bag and climbed inside it".

I mulled over her words and gave her a look.

"You kept the Rat?", I whispered.

She nodded with a grin.

"You're not supposed to have a Rat until next year", Jasmine scolded.

"I know but Mr Squeakils is so cute though", Myley pouted.

We all laughed and I turned to the table full of food. I got a bread roll and put some chicken on it. I ate it quickly and then turned to the others. Arthur was eating a drum stick and Myley was eating a wrap. I turned to Jasmine and she gave me a smile.

We waited patiently, well Jasmine did. I kept fidgeting with my necklace and clicking my fingers.

After twenty minutes, I started getting really annoyed. I just wanted to go to the third floor and open the entrance. Why was it so hard?

Myley finally finished and went to grab another wrap.

"Uh no you don't", I said as I shook my head.

I saw Arthur out of the corner of my eye reach for a sandwich and I turned to him.

"Put that down right now. Let's go to the 3rd floor", I said frustrated.

They begrudgingly nodded and followed me out. We rushed up there, careful to watch for teachers and students. And because the universe just loved me we walked right into the Golden Trio.

"What are you doing up here Potter?", Edward asked in annoyance.

Why was everything so difficult today.

"We're exploring", I shrugged.

Edward and Arnold shared a look.

"Exploring the girl's bathroom, wow could you dorks be any more weird".

Myley glared at him and Jasmine scowled. I could see Arthur out of the corner my eye. He was looking at the floor. Dealing with Arnold always made him close up.

"Whatever, you can go now", I said annoyed.

Edward rolled his eyes.

"You can't tell me what to do Potter. I can go where I want whenever I want", Edward sneered.

"You're the Minister of Magic's son, not Draco Malfoy. Stop being a git and leave us alone", I growled in anger.

These kinds of people never knew when to quit. Screw giving everyone a second chance. No matter what I said he'd just continuing arguing. Merlin if he said the sky was pink you'd still lose that argument.

"How dare you compare me to that bigot, Death Eater ...", Edward shouted in rage.

He didn't get to finish though as the bell rang. With a snort, he left with Tiffany and Arnold. I wanted to scream and shout. We hadn't managed to get to the chamber and now we had to wait.

I followed Jasmine to class, which turned out to be Muggle studies. I sat between Jasmine and Arthur and got my book out. Myley had to go to History class with the Golden Trio. I felt bad that she was stuck for an hour with the Gryffindor's on her own. Myley had been better with the Gryffindor's but they still teased her. I wished she would at least make an acquaintance in Gryffindor like Arthur had with Amy Creevey.

The Headmistress walked in and stood at the front of the class.

"Good afternoon class. This lesson is very important as we are going to learn about the Muggle Government system. Now I'm sure some of you know about it but I doubt even the Muggleborn students have a full understanding of it".

I wondered how this class was going to go. I has a basic knowledge of how politics and the government worked but I kinda wondered how the Magical and the Muggle government worked together in relation to their laws.

Wizarding Britain only had one jail for adults called Azkaban. It used to be used for kids as well but they'd rebuilt a prison called Numenguard for young criminals because people thought it was inhumane.

My Dad had said that in the Muggle world there was lots of different jail's. There was some for kids and some for adults. From what I'd been told the cells at Azkaban didn't have dementors anymore but they were small and horrible. Dad had said that Muggle jails aimed for rehabilitation rather than just punishment.

"So the Priminister of Britain is Amanda Bastem. She has been in office for a year and a half now. The Minister of Magic is Edward Longbottom and he has been in office for three years. A big problem for the Wizarding community is how the two governing bodies work with each other", The Headmistress continued.

Well maybe my questions will be answered today. Maybe Aunt Hermione could actually teach.

"What problems do you think arise between the two governments?", she asked the class.

Jasmine and a few others raised their hands. I was glad that Jasmine had, she was really nervous when it came to teachers.

Aunt Hermione looked over everyone and gestured to Kim Chang.

"We have different laws to the Muggles and they don't know about us", Kim answered.

Aunt Hermione nodded.

"That's right. The Muggle government isn't aware of our Wizarding society. It is illegal to reveal to Muggles our magic, this is based around the Statue of Secrecy".

Jasmine raised her hand and Aunt Hermione looked at her with distaste. I wish Aunt Hermione didn't give Jasmine such a hard time over everything because of who her parents were.

"What is it Miss Malfoy?", The Headmistress asked with a scowl.

Jasmine seemed nervous but asked her question.

"Doesn't the Ministry have a team of Wizards that discuss things with the Priminister? The British government has a delegation of Muggles that converse at the Wizergamot once a month as well so I don't think the two governing bodies not being aware of each other is much of a problem. It's been this way since 1912".

I couldn't help but grin, Jasmine knew a lot for our age. It was odd to think that Aunt Hermione didn't know something like this, especially about the topic she was teaching.

"And How do you know this?", The Headmistress questioned with a distasteful look.

All of the class turned to Jasmine and I could tell that she was feeling anxious.

"My... My Dad and Mum have educated me in Wizarding and Muggle politics. My Dad is friends with a few Muggles that are a part of the Muggle government as his Dad used to deal with them for the Wizargamot".

A few other students nodded in agreement and the Headmistress didn't look happy. She brushed it off and continued teaching.

I finished the rest of the notes and stared at the bottom corner of the screen. Ten minutes until the bell. I fiddled with my pendant in frustration. This definitely had to be the slowest ten minutes of my life.

I glanced over at Arthur and he was fixed solely on his Mum. I guess he had some issues with her over her consorting with Lestrange.

It made me glad that me and Mum got on so well. There weren't any secrets between us and we rarely had issues.

The bell sounded and I was glad as we could get to the next class and then finally get to open the entrance to the chamber.

I got up and waited for the others. I surveyed the room in surprise and took a deep breath as Arthur faced his Mum.

"Hey Mum can, we talk", Arthur asked quietly.

Aunt Hermione looked at us and frowned but nodded.

"Do you know anyone with the last name Lestrange?", he asked.

I noticed her face shift into slight shock before almost instantaneously morph into a blank expression.

"Bellatrix Lestrange was a Death Eater that served Voldemort. She was initially a Black like Sirius but got married to Rudolphus Lestrange", she answered.

Arthur just nodded.

"Why?", The Headmistress questioned.

For a second I wasn't sure if Arthur was going to respond, but he just shrugged.

"Just for our history project. I read it somewhere when I was researching and I thought I'd ask if you knew more about the family", he covered smoothly.

Before she could ask any more questions, we hurried out the classroom and started down the hall.

I wasn't surprised when Arthur huffed.

"Why is she lying?", he grumbled in frustration.

None of us responded and took it as a rhetorical question.

We quickly moved through the halls and made our way to DADA. I was still annoyed that we were yet to see the chamber entrance and I wished there was some way we could get out of class.

"Guys we better hurry up", Jasmine said as she picked up the pace.

As we walked we came to a standstill as Jasmine stumbled into someone. Unsurprisingly it was Myley.

"Why aren't you at class?", I asked as I helped Jasmine up.

"Uh well I couldn't see you guys or anyone really. Our classroom was empty", Myley answered.

Well that was just great. Where could our class be?

"Maybe they went into the library", Jasmine suggested.

"Probably", Arthur agreed.

I suddenly had a great idea.

"Maybe we should go to the chamber, we've got some time, right?".

…

So, it's been a while hasn't it. I'm not sure if anyone's reading this but I figured I should update. I've had this chapter written for over half a year, it was getting to long so I decided to post it. R&R (:


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